Right Hand Green
by TheAlchemist'sDaughter
Summary: Robin's new training program puts him and Beastboy in some compromising positions... Rob/BB Chp8: The boys go to the carnival together
1. The Training Program

Right Hand Green

"That's it, man! I can't _take_ it anymore!"

The Titans barely glanced over as Beastboy shifted back to human form and slid off the treadmill, gasping for air with his hands on his knees. His outburst was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Where's Robin anyway? Why do we have to bust our butts and he doesn't?" the green teen cried, demanding attention from his teammates.

"Robin has his own training schedule, you know that," Raven reminded him in her husky monotone, not even bothering to open her eyes as she floated cross-legged across the gym.

"That doesn't mean he gets to dictate ours!" Beastboy continued to whine.

"He doesn't dictate mine," Raven informed him emotionlessly, finally looking at him, her concentration disturbed. Beastboy would have been offended by her tone if she'd had one.

"Or mine," offered Cyborg from beneath a hydraulic press that reached almost to the ceiling.

"Nor indeed mine," agreed Starfire, levitating in the centre of her ring of targets.

"_What_? It's just me?" exploded the youngest of the group, before pouting fiercely, his pointed ears dipping.

"Well, he knows you wouldn't do it if he didn't make you. You'd just pig out on the couch all day watching horror movies and playing video games," Cyborg replied, going back to hefting the huge weight back up in another rep.

"I would not," Beastboy sulked, crossing his arms in a huff.

"Yes, you would. Besides, what do you know about physical training? You'd just hurt yourself if Robin didn't tell you what to do," Raven said.

"That's not true..." the boy said, but looking around him, he wasn't so sure he would have been able to come up with his own work-out plan after all. But he would have liked it if his teammates had a little more faith in him, instead of always seeing him as the goof-off, failure of the team all the time.

"What's not true?" The automatic doors slid open and Robin walked in, his arms full of wires and cables and multicoloured plastic.

"Nothing," Beastboy said quickly before any of the others could embarrass him.

"Beastboy was getting bored on the treadmill again," Cyborg informed their leader.

"I was not!" he objected, but they ignored him.

Robin carried his load over to the big computer that coordinated all the different systems and training programmes in the gym. He lay all the plastic on the floor and began connecting cables and plugs.

"Well, maybe he'd like a go on this. It's a training program designed to improve speed, reflexes, accuracy, co-ordination, flexibility... Everything, really." Robin stood up and looked over his shoulder at Beastboy, whose curiosity and desire to redeem himself brought him over.

"Dude... Is that electric Twister?" the boy asked, staring down at four differently-coloured rows of dots.

Robin's eyes narrowed. "No, it's a training program. One of the circles will light up, and you have to hit it before the next one. There are various difficulty levels that allow you to change how many circles light up at once, and how long you have to hit them before the next ones come on."

"You crossed DDR with Twister, admit it," Beastboy persisted, grinning stupidly at his leader. He liked Twister. He could get excited about _this_ type of training.

"No... Look, if you stand these extra sensory pads at the sides and in front, then it can simulate combat situations in which you have to fight multiple opponents at close range, without room to manoeuvre." Robin quickly set up the box-shaped unit to demonstrate, but Beastboy was still looking annoyingly smug.

"Four-dimensional Twister. It's been done," said the green teen.

"It's not Twister! It's a training program!"

"Hey, it's okay, we can play Twister if you want, it doesn't have to be training, training, training all the time. You look like you need to loosen up anyway," Beastboy said jokingly, as he did everything, but on the inside he did sincerely wish that Robin could just act like a teenager sometimes, and not always like the world was going to end. He was a great leader, but he didn't have to be that all the time. Beastboy wanted him to have enjoy himself every once in a while.

"I do not need to loosen up," Robin replied testily.

Their bickering was disturbing the other Titans. Raven sighed loudly and dropped out of her lotus-position, walking out of the room announcing "I'm going to meditate in my room."

Cyborg watched her go then wandered over to inspect Robin's new invention for himself, and maybe settle the debate. Robin and Beastboy looked up at him, awaiting his verdict. Cyborg looked it over carefully, from this angle and that, before finally saying, "I don't know, man... Looks like Twister to me."

Robin made a sound of frustration. "You're not getting it, I'll show you," he said, stepping into the machine. He programmed it using a small control fitted in the place of one of the coloured dots. There were two short beeps followed by a long one signalling the beginning of the routine, and Robin assumed his fighting stance, fists up, feet apart, knees bent. Then the dots began lighting up. At an uneven pace, Robin had to punch, kick, elbow and stomp on the disks surrounding him. As always, Beastboy was impressed and a little scared by his leader's determination and skill. He hit every single target, moving so fluidly that it was almost as if he could predict where the next one was going to be. He kept it up for about twenty seconds, after which he judged that he'd given enough of a demonstration to enlighten his teammates.

"Computer, end program," he said, and the box powered down. Robin turned to face Beastboy and Cyborg. He wasn't even out of breath. "See? That wasn't Twister."

Starfire zoomed over and clapped enthusiastically, "Oh, Robin, what a wondrous invention! It looks enjoyable, may I also be permitted to experience a 'go'?" she trilled.

Robin looked startled, and reflexively put his arms out a little to protect the machine. "Uh, actually Star, this is still just a prototype, I'm not sure if it can... withstand Tamaranian enthusiasm. It needs testing," he explained.

Starfire looked disappointed. "Oh, okay... I understand..." she said and drifted away. "I will go and see if Raven would perhaps like to partake of the 'Girl Talk' with me," she said, the automatic doors swallowing her into the corridor. Robin watched her go for a second longer than necessary, and Beastboy wondered if he was aware that the 'girl talk' Starfire had mentioned was about him nine times out of ten. He figured the older boy must have known – he seemed to know everything.

"Anywa~ay," Beastboy chimed, bringing the attention back to himself. "That was all very nice, but if we do this..." He stepped forward and programmed the system with new parameters, something many years of gaming made fairly straightforward for him. The three bips sounded, and now one dot lit up at a time, after an interval of about five seconds. Beastboy looked smug. "Twister," he declared. Robin narrowed his eyes, his mask following the contours of his face.

Cyborg moved towards the big computer. "Way ahead of you, B," he said, beginning to type in commands. "If we reset the random number generator to select from four pre-programmed phrases..." He stood back triumphantly, and the computer announced in its robotic drone,

"_Left foot_."

"Hey, good idea, Cy!" Beastboy called triumphantly.

"And now I just need to synchronise the computer with the game's system..."

"It's not a game!" complained Robin.

"_Right hand_," spoke the computer, and a blue dot at Beastboy's feet lit up, making the boy laugh.

"Face it, dude. You invented Twister. Wanna play? Though I should warn you, I am _King_ at Twister," he said jovially, confident that he'd won the argument.

Robin scowled at him, folding his arms defiantly. "Alright. But if I win, you have to admit that it's a training program, and you have to go through it for an hour every day for a month," he challenged.

"Fine, and if I win, you have to admit that it's a game, and it gets moved to the living room upstairs, and you have to play whenever I want for _three_ months," Beastboy accepted.

"Deal," Robin said with gritted teeth and a crooked smirk. "Cyborg, restart the program."

"Alright, but don't kill each other. Remember it's just a game."

"_Training program_!"

"I'll go first," Beastboy said as the two boys faced each other inside the three-walled box, and when the computer commanded "_Right hand_," he defiantly placed it on the illuminated yellow dot beside Robin.

They heard Cyborg's hydraulic press start up as the eldest Titan went back to his work out. Their game progressed easily enough at first, they even got bored enough to start showing off, going for more difficult positions than were necessary, but it all just fired up their competitiveness even more. Robin was a fierce competitor by nature, being driven to succeed all his life. He _hated_ losing, and he wasn't about to be banned from using his new invention for training when it could be so beneficial. Beastboy, on the other hand, was determined not to be the loser of the group _again_, he was going to prove that he was as capable as any of the others, even as capable as Robin. That, and he _hated_ exercising, and he really didn't want an extra hour a day in this thing.

Eventually they heard Cyborg's press powering down, and he appeared at the open side of the machine. He looked down at where Robin had both hands planted on two yellow circles, one foot on red, and the other leg extending up the nearest wall to get his foot on the top blue. Beastboy meanwhile was standing facing the opposite wall, one hand on blue, the other on a bottom green, one foot standing on blue, and the other leg bent behind him to get to a middle red.

"Well, have fun guys, I'm done for the day," he said.

"Okay."

"Bye," they grunted, concentrating too hard on the placement of their next limb. Cyborg walked away, and they heard the automatic door close behind him. Beastboy suddenly became aware of how quiet it was. They weren't talking, and without the rhythmic hiss of Cyborg doing reps with the hydraulics, there was just the computer unfeelingly barking out commands at ten second intervals.

"Eh-heh, so..." he began with a nervous laugh.

"So?" Robin replied, shifting to fit the computers new command.

"Errrr... You wanna hear a joke?" Beastboy asked as he hit the next dot.

"That depends. Is it actually a joke, or is it something you made up?"

"Hey!" Beastboy protested with a whine and a pout.

Robin thought maybe he was being unnecessarily harsh, especially since it looked like he was going to be in very close quarters with his little green teammate for the foreseeable future, and he did generally like the other boy. He was just letting his competitiveness get the better of him.

"Go on then," he corrected himself, inviting Beastboy to tell his joke as he moved again.

"What's green and lives in the jungle?"

Robin thought about it as he finally got into a standing position. "I don't know. You?"

Beastboy giggled while Robin hadn't thought he'd said anything funny. "Good one! No, it's Tarzan of the Grapes! Get it?" he gushed in his raspy, high-pitched, still-childish voice, pleased with himself.

"Yeah, I get it. Tarzan of the Grapes, ha ha."

Beastboy was now standing with his back to the wall, his right hand on a blue disk beside him, and his left hand on a green on the other side. His right foot was planted on blue and his left bridged the small box by going for the green on the opposite wall. Robin was standing one foot on red and the other on yellow, his left hand next to Beastboy's head on blue, his right hand on the opposite wall, yellow.

"You wanna hear another one?" the green teen continued excitedly.

"Um, maybe later..." Robin suggested, not particularly looking forward to an unending chain of Beastboy's classics.

"_Left hand_." snapped the computer, and Robin looked for the lit-up pad, finding it on the other side of Beastboy's head, a green one. He dutifully moved his hand, but as the silence returned between them, they both felt how awkward the position was. Robin had Beastboy caged against the wall and was having to stand quite close to do it.

"Um..." Beastboy murmured nervously, trying to alleviate the silence and the tension. He turned his face away from Robin's. "Do you, er, know any jokes?"

"Er..." Not really. Robin didn't really know any jokes - he hadn't had a very comedic life - but he couldn't tell Beastboy that. How pathetic would he look then? He didn't know even _one_ joke?

"What do you call two superheroes who got run over by a steamroller?" he said in the end. It was possibly his least favourite joke in the world, but it was the only one he could think of with Beastboy's cheeks slowly turning a darker shade of green in front of his face and his big green eyes looking at him so expectantly.

"I don't know," Beastboy replied quietly.

"_Left foot_."

The command came so suddenly that Beastboy jumped and laughed nervously, moving his foot down from the other wall and onto the glowing green dot on the floor.

"That's better," he said, now that his leg wasn't almost touching Robin. That would be embarrassing. "What was the answer?" he asked, looking at Robin again.

"Flatman and Ribbon," Robin replied in a low, deadpan voice, too busy watching Beastboy pinned against the wall between his hands to really put any emotion into it. He hated that joke anyway.

Beastboy's ear twitched and then he got the joke and laughed, his mouth opening and exposing his pointy little inhuman canines in quite a charming way, but most importantly his eyes squeezed shut as he laughed, and Robin felt like there'd been a sudden gust of oxygen into the little box. Why? He hadn't been holding his breath, had he?

"I used to get that one a lot," Robin said with a small smile of his own as he watched Beastboy laugh.

"What was it like-?"

"_Left hand_."

Robin looked around for his next target, but it took a second for him to find it. It was a yellow one. Between Beastboy's legs.

The boys looked at it, then at each other.

"If you don't want to continue-" Robin began awkwardly.

"Yeah, maybe we should-" Beastboy started to agree.

"You can just quit and-"

"Hey! I am not losing to you," Beastboy insisted, fired up again. He shifted his legs further apart an inch or two in invitation. He was _not_ going to lose this. Robin could quit if he wanted to, but Beastboy was prepared to do whatever it took. Robin looked at his face, well aware his time was running out.

"It's up to you," he said and, with the forced appearance on uncaring, stooped and planted his hand firmly on the disk between Beastboy's legs. Not surprisingly, the awkward silence returned between them, and Beastboy broke first again.

"Oh yeah, I was gonna ask you, what was it like working with, you know, the big guy?"

Robin had been afraid that that stupid joke would invite this topic of conversation, a topic that he really didn't like.

"It's behind me," he said, hoping Beastboy would understand the dismissal for what it was and drop the subject.

"Oh, right... Sorry, I shouldn't have asked, I know you don't like to talk about it-"

"It's not that I don't like to talk about it-"

"I was just being nosy again-"

"It's not like it was _bad_-"

They were talking over each other again. It wasn't until the computer interrupted that they stopped, and the embarrassing position they were in began to disintegrate. They were silent for the next couple of moves, Beastboy not daring to open his mouth again, and they steadily got turned around until their backs were to each other.

Then, to his surprise, Robin spoke first. "When I came to Jump City, it was to get out of his shadow."

Beastboy didn't quite know what to say to that. "I think you've done a good job. I mean, I don't know him, but I know you, and I think you're-"

Beastboy cut himself off before it was too late. What was he going to say? That he thought Robin was cool? A hero? He thought all those things but they weren't things you could just _say_ to another guy. He shouldn't let himself get carried away just because he couldn't see Robin's face to embarrass him. There was a long pause in the conversation.

"Thanks."

Beastboy wasn't sure he'd heard it, but he wasn't going to ask Robin to repeat himself. This was clearly some big male-bonding moment, and it would be against the Bro-code to draw attention to it. They continued to move around the box.

"I remember when I first came to Jump City," Beastboy said, reminiscing on his old self. He remembered how he'd felt when he'd realised that he was talking to _the_ Robin. So excited, awed even, honoured. Beastboy knew a kid like him was just a sidekick, but Robin was the ultimate sidekick, the sidekick all sidekick's wanted to be like. Then he'd got to know him and he realised that he was so much more than a sidekick. He'd left the Doom Patrol of his own free will, and he'd come to Jump City to try making it on his own, because he'd still wanted to help people, but he was just a kid and he was scared and lonely. Beastboy was happiest as a sidekick, when somebody else did all the heavy thinking and all he had to do was follow orders. He was a helper. The Teen Titans had seemed like the perfect family, already there and waiting for him, and they didn't know each other yet so he wouldn't be the new guy.

"It's not that long ago," Robin replied.

"Yeah, I guess... It just feels like a long time."

Robin gave a single short laugh, probably thinking about everything that had happened since they'd first met. "Yeah," he agreed wistfully. "Why did you leave the Doom Patrol, anyway?"

"Oh... That. I guess I was just a bit... too young, you know... I wasn't ready for that. I was still learning to use my powers, and they wanted me to be able to do all this... Anyway, I couldn't take the pressure I guess," Beastboy explained, then suddenly changed his mind to stop defending them. "No, that wasn't it. They made me feel like I wasn't good enough. That's why I left."

There was a pause as they had to shift around some more.

"And the Teen Titans?" Robin asked.

"The Teen Titans don't make me feel that way. In fact, I think that's how we all felt when we first met," Beastboy replied, contorting his body for one particular target.

"Is that why you were so eager to make us a team?" Robin pursued.

"No, that was probably because of you. I mean, if I could get _Robin_ to take me on, wow, that would be..."

Oops. He'd done it. He'd broken the Bro-code. He hadn't been able to stop himself in time and he'd gone and said something seriously uncool and now this box was going to get awkward.

The silence came back for a second but it didn't have a chance to settle.

"Yeah, I remember what you were like. Calling me 'Sir', and saluting all the time, with that _goofy_ mask-"

"My mask was _cool_," Beastboy moped quietly, and Robin laughed.

"I remember thinking, who _is_ this guy?" Their eyes met accidentally and held. "This little _green_ kid who can turn into animals. Wow." Beastboy looked away, embarrassed. "I came to Jump City determined to make a name for myself, and almost immediately, there's this kid, ruining all my plans," Robin continued in a light-hearted, reminiscent tone, but Beastboy flinched. Had he really ruined Robin's plans?

"And this kid wants to follow _me_, team up with a bunch of strangers, the exact opposite of what I wanted." Beastboy flinched again. "I remember thinking, I can't look after these people. But we made it. We've done alright."

Beastboy was standing, his feet straddling the width of the box, with his hands on the wall beside him. Robin was hunched over at his feet.

"You don't regret it, do you?" Beastboy asked, insecure from what Robin had said.

His leader looked up at him to answer.

"_Right hand_."

Robin looked over his shoulder and found the glowing pad his hand was to go to. "No, of course I don't regret it. I've seen a real-live dinosaur because of you. What you can do is amazing. I wouldn't trade the Teen Titans for anything," he answered.

That only made Beastboy feel a little better, and he didn't say anything back.

"_Left hand_." Bestboy went into a crouch facing Robin.

"Hey Robin, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"_Left hand_." Robin was now forced into a crab-like, bridge position.

"What's your real name?"

Robin stiffened. Telling Beastboy his real name would be giving away his secret identity, and giving away his secret identity was _against the rules_. Bruce had taught his that. Rule Number One. And it wasn't as if his name was John Smith or something - type Dick Grayson into Google and you'd be able to find out exactly who he was. If your identity was exposed, all your enemies would be able to find you, and find the people you love, and hurt them. Hurt them to get to you or just for the sake of it, depending how sick they were. Granted, everyone he loved connected to the name Dick Grayson was already dead, but if Robin was exposed as Dick Grayson, then the man who took in Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, could be deduced to be Batman.

But this was only Beastboy asking. If he found out Batman's identity, it was doubtful that he would do anything with the information.

"Why do you want to know now?" Robin asked cagily.

"I just figured, you know, since you know my real name," Beastboy replied.

Robin's face split into a large, crooked grin. "Garfield," he said, making Beastboy scowl at him. There was something about saying that name that always made him smile. It was a funny name. Beastboy, on the other hand, always experienced an uncomfortable shiver whenever his leader said it.

"_Right hand_." Beastboy moved his hand to Robin's side.

"Yeah. Cyborg told me his real name, and I know stuff already about Raven and Starfire, but I don't know anything about you, so... I thought..."

It was a legitimate concern. Robin knew that none of his teammates knew anything about his personal life, whereas he knew almost everything about them, something he knew they weren't aware of. He knew all about the disease Beastboy had caught in Africa and the makeshift cure his parents had given him that had given the boy his powers. However, Robin also knew that Beastboy didn't like to talk about Africa or his parents, was almost as reticent about it as Robin was about Batman. Robin knew researching his teammates was the sensible thing to do, but he also suspected how much it would hurt them if they found out, so having secret files on his friends made him feel a little...

He must have been living with Bruce for too long, but that didn't make it any easier to start sharing now.

"_Left foot_."

"You don't have to tell me your name if you don't want to," Beastboy said, starting to get nervous when Robin didn't say anything. They were also uncomfortably close, physically, with Beastboy leaning over Robin the way he was. "You could just tell me something else like... where you grew up, what your parents did for a living... what colour your eyes are..." the green teen trailed off hopefully.

But to Robin, all those things were unacceptable. Where he grew up? The circus, too much of a give-away. What his parents did? Ditto. The colour of his eyes?... There was no reason why he couldn't tell the younger boy that. It didn't relate to his identity at all. But he didn't want to tell him. He always wore his mask, and he wasn't going to take it off now, but if he didn't, there would be no way for Beastboy to know if what he was saying was true. Robin knew the younger boy would believe whatever Robin told him, but there was something wrong about that. He didn't want to make the boy believe a lie, but he didn't want to tell him the truth either.

"_Right hand_."

Their position just got worse. He supposed in a space that small, it was inevitable. Robin was still trapped, supporting himself on all fours with his chest up, but now Beastboy was leaning over him, a hand on either side, his face level to Robin's chest. Neither of them could move. Robin's joints and muscles were burning, but he wasn't confident that he had the strength anymore to move without falling, and he couldn't quite judge how far from the ground he was. If he lowered his hips, he might accidentally touch the ground, and _lose_.

As for Beastboy, his arms just weren't long enough to keep his face more than a couple of inches from the red fabric, damp with sweat, of Robin's chest. His feet barely had any purchase on the smooth plastic, so there was no hope there. He couldn't even turn his head without his nose brushing Robin's chest, which happened a couple of times as he tried to find a less embarrassing position. And frankly, being this close to Robin was starting to get to him. The heat coming off his leader's body, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, his heartbeat – it was probably his animal side reacting, his heightened senses making everything worse but _oh boy_.

And the _smell_. Robin smelled like clean sweat, hair gel, fabric softener, the food he'd eaten that day (including, unfortunately, the faint, dead carcass smell of the meat he'd had for lunch), everything he'd touched as well, sawdust from the punching bag, grease from the garage... Beastboy could read his entire day just from his scent, but there was also that thing beneath it all that was just Robin, hot flesh and blood, and it was going straight to Beastboy's head. He wondered why the smell of another male wasn't producing fight responses, he should be getting aggressive, but he wasn't. It must have been because Robin was so familiar that he smelled so... nice. His scent was all over the tower - of course he would smell like safety and warmth and companionship. Beastboy had had reactions to the smells of over people before, God knows Slade's metal and aftershave smell always made his hackles rise, and sometimes the girls smelled particularly attractive to him, but he couldn't escape this. His nose was as good as buried against Robin and every breath he took was of him. He'd cursed his nose on other occasions, like in the heat of summer when everything bad smells worse, but while this seemed like a perfect example for it, he didn't actually mind so much. Robin's scent was very welcoming, and it was a fight to keep his head from falling those last couple of inches onto the boy's chest.

Robin shifted uncomfortably. "Beastboy, you smell," he said.

"I was on the treadmill, what do you want? Besides, you don't have my nose, you can't complain."

Robin was suffering too. Beastboy was warm, like _hot_, and it was all concentrated on his abdomen and between his legs where Beastboy was crouched. Not to mention that every time the green boy moved it created this tiny, little... _friction_. And he was doing it every couple of seconds until Robin just wanted to scream at him to either fall or _move properly_. But he was afraid of what 'moving properly' might entail, probably Beastboy moving further up his body, which would just bring them closer together, both face-wise and... below. If he raised his head to look at the younger boy, he could see the dark green flush on his cheeks, and the slight tilt of his pointy nose towards his chest, instead of away from it.

A wave of pain from his muscles made him grimace and he threw back his head and grit his teeth, his breath coming in harsh pants. But it was his turn next, he just had to wait another couple of seconds.

Beastboy was looking at him in concern. "Hey man, you can give up if it hurts too much, I won't hold you to the bet," he said. Robin shook his head. He'd had worse than this.

"_Left hand_."

With a huge effort, he threw his hand onto the yellow circle on the wall to his right, finally twisting his body out of being bent over backwards. This was still a difficult position, but it was better. It made things harder for Beastboy though, who was almost being pushed up off the two targets his hands were on, just his fingertips managing to reach.

"Um, is that your... birdarang?" the green teen suddenly asked in a mumble.

"Is _what_ my birdarang?" Robin replied, in pain and annoyed.

"Nevermind."

Robin _was_ wearing his utility belt, let Beastboy think what he would.

The computer gave them several more moves, but they only grew more entangled.

"Well, this is the game the ties you up in knots!" Beastboy joked when he could no longer tell where, in proportion to himself, Robin's head was.

"Except _this isn't Twister_!"

"Robin! Look at us, this is totally Twister!"

They were now both very sweaty, hurt, tired and thirsty, and they were beginning to understand that the computer would never stop giving them commands, that they could be playing well into the night until one of them collapsed from exhaustion. Neither of them wanted the other to hurt themselves over this.

"You wanna call it a draw?" Beastboy panted, carefully sliding his leg over Robin to reach his target on the other wall.

"A draw?"

"Yeah. Bet's off. This thing can stay here, I don't have to use it against my will," Beastboy clarified.

"And it's a training program."

"It's _Twister_!"

"Okay, okay, it is a training program that can be used for Twister. This hurts too much to be a game," Robin compromised.

"Agreed. So, on the count of three, game over?"

"One, two," Robin counted, "Three."

They collapsed into a pile with a communal groan of relief. Robin was on his back, Beastboy had landed on his chest, and neither of them had the energy to move. They simply lay there, gasping, waiting for their pulses to return to normal. The computer kept giving orders but they ignored it. Robin looked to the window.

"It's dark already. We must have been doing that for hours," he said.

Beastboy merely murmured in reply, his muscles felt like jelly. He was almost asleep. His eyes were closed and his nose was turned into the join of Robin's shoulder and neck. The older boy was surprisingly comfortable to lie on, and Robin didn't mind Beastboy's weight, or the heat that was pouring off him. He was sweaty already so who cared?

Robin thought back to when Beastboy had asked him to share some personal information, and he'd avoided answering. That wasn't right. It might have been exactly what Bruce would have done, but the whole point of moving away from Gotham was that he didn't want to end up like Bruce. What he'd done, it wasn't what a friend did, and a friend was all Beastboy had asked Robin to be.

"Beastboy?" he said quietly, suspecting that the boy's deep, even breathing meant he had actually fallen asleep on him.

"Hmm?" was the half-aware reply, the boy stirring against him. Robin smiled in spite of himself - looked like he'd done a better job with the goofy little green kid than he thought he could.

"When I was a kid, I really wanted a pet dog to play with because I didn't really have many friends, but my parents said no because we moved around a lot. You can know that about me... Beastboy?"

There was a soft, light snore.

Robin smiled again. They could lie there a little while longer. But he'd be damned if he was carrying him to bed.


	2. The Park

Chapter 2

About a week after that, Beastboy and Robin passed each other in the corridor. Beastboy caught his leader's arm.

"Hey, are you free tomorrow?" he asked nervously.

"Um, I guess, why?" Robin was puzzled; if Beastboy wanted to go out and do something, he would normally announce it in the living room, nagging the team until they gave up and went to whatever horror movie, robot alien, pizza-fest it was. But the way Beastboy wasn't quite meeting his eyes, and the way he was keeping his voice low as if he didn't want to be overheard, suggested that Beastboy was talking about something private.

"You know that park, on East Luthor and 56th?"

"...Yeah, it's across town," Robin replied. He only knew it because he made it his business to have the map of the city memorised so that he could get to wherever he was needed by the quickest route, but he couldn't think why Beastboy knew of the park, when they'd never had any reason to go there.

"You think you could meet me there at, like, two?" Beastboy said, still looking nervous.

"Why? Is someone going to attack it? Have you told the others?" Robin asked, concerned.

"No! No, it's nothing like that, it's not Titans stuff." He suddenly flicked his eyes up and looked at Robin's face. "Don't tell them, okay? Just meet me there, and, er, don't wear your uniform."

"Beastboy, what's this about?" Robin didn't like being about of the loop, he didn't like surprises, and he didn't like being out of his uniform, not when he might be needed to defend the city at any time. He also didn't want any of his teammates to see him that way, it was too personal.

"You'll see when you get there," Beastboy answered with a small smile, enjoying being a step ahead of the older boy. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad, I'll see you later," he finished, dismissing Robin and any further questions he might have had by jogging off down the corridor, leaving Robin thoroughly confused.

The next day, Robin pulled up to the fence of the park on his spare motorbike, the black one that didn't give away who he was. It was two o'clock, and he was wearing black jeans, trainers, and a pale grey-blue hoodie. As he pulled off his helmet and quickly slid on his opaque sunglasses to cover his eyes, he didn't like it. He felt naked, vulnerable, dressed like this. If Mad Mod or Killer Moth were to appear now, he wouldn't be much help. He had a few birdarangs and smoke bombs hidden away under his hoodie, but it was nowhere near as comforting as his utility belt. And he still had no idea why Beastboy had brought him here, or indeed why the green teen hadn't wanted to leave together.

He slung his leg around the bike and dismounted, heading for the entrance to the park. Once past it, he quickly scanned the area for Beastboy but didn't see him. He checked his watch, 2:01. Not knowing why he was there, he was lost. He just hoped nobody recognised him.

There was a bark to his left, and when he looked, he found a green German Shepherd staring up at him welcomingly, wagging its tail.

"Beastboy? Alright, I'm here, what is it?" he said. The dog barked again, then turned and ran off behind a tree. Robin followed warily, not having anything better to do. He didn't understand why Beastboy wasn't in human form, when there didn't appear to be any immediate danger, and why he had picked a dog of all things to be.

The Shepherd re-emerged from behind the tree, dragging a worn purple backpack in its mouth. He manoeuvred the bag between them then barked eagerly, tail wagging behind him. With a confirming look at Beastboy, Robin knelt down and carefully opened the bag, expecting a bomb, drugs, weapons, a threatening letter, _something_ that would explain their presence there.

Instead, what he found was a collection of dog toys. He pulled out a tennis ball.

"Beastboy, I don't get it, what is this?" he said. But his teammate just barked again, taking a step closer, his eyes fixed excitedly on the ball, his tail wagging faster.

If it had been any other dog, Robin would have understood the body language perfectly. He wanted Robin to throw the ball; he wanted to play. But that didn't make any sense, why would Beastboy get him to come across town, in secret, in civilian dress, just to play with a ball?

Seeing his confusion, Beastboy crouched down on his front paws, his back end in the air, an even more obviously playful position.

Robin sighed. "Beastboy, can't you just change back and tell me what's going on?" he said. Then something occurred to him, making him lower his face to the dog's conspiratorially. "This _is_ you right? I'm not talking to another green alien dog from outer space, am I?"

The dog rolled his eyes and flopped onto his haunches with a huff. Suddenly, Robin's human teammate was squatting in front of him, pointy ears, pointy teeth, purple uniform and all.

"Yes, it's me! Sheesh! You told me you wanted a dog before, so here it is!. Now stop complaining and just go with it! Nice look, by the way," he admonished, and with a wink Robin was once again faced with a deep green dog.

The dark-haired teen frowned. What a waste of time. He stood up. "Beastboy, come on, this is stupid. You don't have to do this. I haven't even thought about a dog in years, I'm over it now. We should get back to the tower. I'll give you a ride on my bike," he said, turning to go.

He was stopped by his hoodie becoming caught on something. He turned and saw Beastboy holding the fabric in his teeth. The dog growled faintly.

"Beastboy, I said no! I'm not going to waste my afternoon playing with a fake dog when there's work I could be doing back at the tower," he said firmly.

But Beastboy held on. Then he whined persuasively.

"Beastboy, no!" Robin insisted, and snatched his sweater out of his teammate's jaws.

Beastboy ran in front of Robin and blocked his way, before morphing into a green Golden Retriever. When Robin didn't react, he became a Labrador. Robin sighed in frustration and moved to walk around his teammate, who hurriedly transformed into a fluffy little Pomeranian in a last ditch effort to capture his leader's interest. But once Robin got a few steps away from him, he was knocked to the ground by a huge green Great Dane that stole his sunglasses and ran off.

Robin gasped and threw himself to his feet, taking after the dog. Not wearing his uniform was one thing, but not covering his face felt downright _dangerous_. No one had seen his eyes since he'd left Bruce, and certainly not any of the Titans. He would have felt angry if he hadn't been so concerned with getting the glasses back. Even as he ran, he was subconsciously counting all the people who might be seeing his naked face. He thought Beastboy had known better than to cross that line.

But of course, he stood no chance of catching Beastboy. The Great Dane was just faster on four legs than he could be on two, and he'd had a head start. But luckily for him, Beastboy didn't want to escape, he wanted to make a deal, and soon stopped running, turning to look at Robin out of arm's reach. The chase had taken them halfway across the park, where there were a lot more people. Robin didn't want to attract their attention.

"Okay, Beastboy, give me my glasses back and I'll play with you for a while," he said, his voice carefully measured. He held out his hand and the Great Dane took a nervous step forward. Robin lunged and snatched the glasses back, startling the dog into backing away again.

Robin wiped the glasses on his hoodie, letting his displeasure show on his face. He noticed the dog walk slowly closer, his green eyes trained now on Robin's. The older boy grew self-conscious; he knew his blue eyes probably weren't what Beastboy had expected to be hidden under his mask. Brown eyes were more common with dark hair. He was also well aware of what people thought of him when he wasn't wearing his mask; in the circus, the ringmaster was pleased to have "such a cute little star", and the schoolgirls in Gotham had often tittered and blushed when he walked past. He didn't want Beastboy to start doing that too.

He replaced his now clean sunglasses. "Alright, go get the toys you brought, I'll wait here. And go back to what you were, the Shepherd," he ordered gruffly, looking away from the dog as it obligingly morphed into another German Shepherd, bushy tail wagging again and his tongue lolling out of what was almost a smile, before he bounded off to retrieve the bag.

Robin was alone for barely four seconds before he became aware of a small, snuffling animal at his foot. He looked down and saw a cute little thing that looked like a King Charles' Spaniel. It was sniffing his trouser cuff before realising it was being watched and turning large brown eyes up at him. At least this was a real dog - that was reassuring. He gave it a cold gaze, eyebrow raised over his sunglasses.

A teenage girl ran up to him, panting, her blonde ponytail swaying behind her. She stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees. She was wearing a blue t-shirt with pink shorts; she must have been a jogger.

She waved one hand at him, "Sorry, she got away from me," she said, catching her breath and standing up, reattaching a sky blue leash to the dog's collar.

"It's okay," Robin replied, waiting to be recognised but also kind of hoping he wouldn't be. It was strange to be talking to a completely innocent, _normal_ person his age, the kind that would be his friends if his life had been different. He didn't know anyone like that in Jump City.

Beastboy came jogging up to his side, the purple backpack in his mouth.

"Oh! Is that your dog?" the girl said, visibly shocked.

"Oh, er, yeah," Robin said, unprepared for the lie he realised he was going to have to tell.

"He's green..." the girl pointed out, and Beastboy whined, looking up at Robin.

"Yeah, we, er... dyed him... _The Studio_ dyed him! He's an acting dog," Robin explained, making use of the area's cinematic economy. "It's for a part in this new film."

"Oh, cool! So why is he green? Wait! I bet they're making a film about the Teen Titans, right? He has to be Beastboy!" The girl laughed at her own genius of figuring it out, and offered her hand for Beastboy to smell, but he didn't look interested.

"I'm not really allowed to talk about it..." Robin said with a crooked smile, pleased with how well his cover story was going down.

"Ri~ight," said the girl, giving him a wink. What was it with everyone winking at him today? "So I bet he knows loads of tricks, huh?"

They both looked down to see Beastboy trying to avoid being too intimately sniffed by the girl's dog, using the backpack as a shield.

"Oh yeah... I've just been getting him to fetch some items he's going to need in the film... like the bag," Robin replied, staunchly ignoring Beastboy's imploring looks for rescue as he danced away from the spaniel.

"Really? Can I try?" The girl crouched down, mercifully pulling her dog away from Beastboy. "What's his name?"

"Bea- ...B. BB," Robin said, catching himself in time, though his cover wasn't too convincing. The girl didn't seem to notice though.

"Okay, BB, shake!" she said, holding out her paw.

Beastboy looked up at Robin for instructions, but his leader just shrugged, so Beastboy begrudgingly sat down and gave the girl his paw.

"Good dog!" she crowed, pleased. She began rubbing his head and patting him to reward him, but Beastboy pulled away.

"Don't do that! Er, I mean, be careful, he's learning to attack people at the moment, you know, the villains," Robin warned to get her off Beastboy, and her smile faltered and she quickly stood up.

"Oh, I see, right, well, I guess I'd better leave you to it then," she said, tugging on the leash for her dog's attention. "Bye," she said sweetly, and jogged off. Robin crouched down to Beastboy himself and laughed.

"Nicely done," he complimented. "High five," and the dog pressed his paw to Robin's upheld palm, his tongue lolling out in another stupid canine smile. "Good dog," he said teasingly, and found himself also playing with the thick fur on the back of Beastboy's neck. He was getting too into this dog thing.

"Alright, so what do you want to do?" he said, shaking the contents of the bag onto the ground. Along with the tennis ball, there was also a boomerang, a Frisbee, some frayed coloured rope for tug-of-war, and a purple collar and lead. Beastboy nudged the boomerang with his nose.

"This? Do I just throw this for you? Okay, here we go," Robin stood up and hurled the boomerang out directly in front of him, watching as Beastboy took off after it. He felt stupid, but the green dog seemed to be having a great time.

With his expertise with his birdarangs, Robin could have sent that boomerang anywhere, at any speed or force. He could have lodged it into a tree, or thrown it so that it flew too high for Beastboy to ever catch before it returned to him, but he didn't. He could have done crazy things with that boomerang, but a normal teenage boy couldn't, so he didn't, and he didn't even think about it.

Instead he just watched as Beastboy bounded away, then plucked the boomerang from the air with ease, trotting proudly back to hold it out to Robin, who tried to touch only the dry end.

He threw the boomerang a couple more times, then when Beastboy brought it back, he asked, "Are you enjoying this? You don't have to do it just for me, you know." But Beastboy just whined, his green eyes staring up at Robin without his leader being able to divine any clues about his thoughts, and pushed his nose against Robin's hand.

"Alright, thanks BB," he murmured, running his hand quickly over his friend's furry head. He scooped up the tennis ball. "Go get it, boy!" he cried, and hurled the ball as far as he could.

While Beastboy was off chasing it, Robin thought about what Beastboy was doing for him. Was it degrading for him? But he seemed to be enjoying it, and he had practically forced the older boy to stay in the park. But how strange to organise this whole thing just because of something Robin had said when he'd thought the other boy was asleep. Robin could understand wanting to know something personal about your friend and teammate, but Beastboy had taken it further than that and actually acted on it. Was Robin glad he had? Although he knew it was really Beastboy inside that dog, he was enjoying himself, and the illusion of having a loyal and eager animal friend.

Beastboy came back with the ball and dropped it at Robin's feet, waiting expectantly for him to throw it again. Robin picked it up, then mimed a powerful throw, keeping the ball hidden in his hand. Beastboy bought it though, shooting off again to the area where the ball had landed previously and looking around in the grass for it. It was only when he couldn't find it and looked back at Robin, confused, that the older boy burst out laughing, showing his friend the ball still in his hand.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" he cried.

Beastboy ran back, trying to get the ball out of Robin's hand and redeem himself, but his leader kept switching it between hands, and moving it behind his back and over his head, making Beastboy jump for it.

"Oh, this? You want this? Huh? You want this?" Robin teased as he kept the ball out of Beastboy's reach, an uncharacteristically large smile on his face at confounding his animal friend. He was falling too far into the game, forgetting that it was his friend and not his actual pet. His stoical, always-in-control leader facade was slipping.

Beastboy stood with his paws on Robin's chest, reaching for the ball, biting thin air as he kept missing it. As Robin laughed however, his focus changed to the boy's face, and on an animal impulse that he didn't control correctly, a surge of affection that he didn't see a problem with in the moment, he licked Robin's cheek.

"Ew, BB!" Robin complained, still laughing as he wiped his cheek, and Beastboy licked him repeatedly, catching him on the neck, jaw and ear as the older boy strained to get his face out of range. "Beastboy, get off!" he said, and pushed the dog away, making him land awkwardly but safely on his four paws. The joke was over. Beastboy stayed down before it got lost completely.

Robin wasn't laughing anymore. "We should get back to the Tower, I said I'd only play for a while," he said, and this time Beastboy knew better than to try to keep him there. He knew fetch wasn't as fun for humans as it was for dogs. Repetitively throwing a ball all afternoon got boring quickly, and even in dog form, repetitively bringing it back got old.

But Beastboy didn't want to change back into a human and be relegated into exactly the same relationship he'd had before with his leader, where he was the childish, goofy, tiresome runt of the pack. He liked being Robin's dog, seeing the boy smile and laugh without any cynicism or arrogance behind it, he liked being able to play with him, get closer to him than he normally could. As a dog, he knew, people forgave him for his actions, so he could get away with placing his paws on the boy's chest, licking his face, or stealing his sunglasses and seeing his eyes without carrying any consequences past that moment.

Beastboy had known his leader was handsome, or at least, that the potential was seriously visible beneath his youth, as he was still maybe a little closer to 'cute' than 'handsome'. He'd heard it on TV and on the street, people complimenting him, and it was like a mark of being in a higher league than the rest of them. The real superstar superheroes were all good looking, like Superman, Wonder Woman, probably Batman though Robin might be the only person to know for sure. Yeah, Robin was going places.

But without the mask, he was even better looking. Crystal blue eyes that held such strength and contrasted sharply with his black hair, well-defined cheekbones, it was all there. Beastboy knew Robin wore the mask to predict his identity, and that he wasn't vain enough to care about his looks, but it really was like the boy wore the mask to keep how attractive he was a secret. A secret that Beastboy now knew, was now going to have to keep. A secret he was going to have to suffer under, as he now wanted to get closer still to his leader.

But he wouldn't. Not in human form. He knew he couldn't be Robin's Super Best Friend with his goofy laugh, lame jokes, and different tastes in almost everything. He knew he wasn't serious enough to have Robin's respect, and to Robin, respect was how you got on the radar.

But he could do it in animal form. He could be a harmless dumb animal and then it wouldn't be wrong to want to be close to Robin. Dogs love their owners, and owners love their dogs.

They walked like that back to the entrance of the park closest to where Robin had left his bike, Beastboy occasionally brushing against Robin's leg as they walked. When they got there, they turned and looked at each other awkwardly, like a couple at the end of their first date. Robin clearly expected Beastboy to turn back into himself, but he wasn't ready yet. He wanted to keep BB the German Shepherd separate, so he could build a separate relationship. He didn't want Robin to associate them and become self-conscious around his dog-form as well.

"Do you want a lift back on my bike?" Robin asked, picking up his helmet.

It was tempting, Robin had never let Beastboy anywhere near his bikes before. But he still couldn't bring himself to show his face, and have to answer for his actions. Not being able to talk had its advantages. So instead he turned into a crow, flapping ungainly six feet off the ground, cawing at Robin before flying away in the direction of the tower. Maybe Robin got the invitation to a race, maybe he didn't, but Beastboy still beat him home and stayed in his room for the rest of the day, too shy to come out, not even to eat.

At dinner, when all the other Titans converged on the kitchen area, Cyborg asked Robin, "Yo, you seen BB? I haven't seen him all day and he wasn't in his room."

Robin sipped the cup of coffee he'd just made. "He must have gone out," he said. It wasn't a lie, it was a logical conclusion.

Robin noticed Cyborg didn't ask where he'd been. Maybe he hadn't been looking for him, wanting Beastboy for some juvenile thing that he didn't expect Robin to enjoy. Or maybe he just assumed that if Robin had been doing anything important, he would say. It was true that usually, whenever he went out, it was tracking down minor leads or working in some other way, he never had any social engagements. He also realised that he rarely told the other Titans about his plans. He'd been taught to be solitary and secretive, work in the shadows, so that even after fiascos like Red X, it was a pattern he often fell right back into. He'd have to make more effort.

When Robin had waited over two hours for Beastboy to come down to eat, he went up to see him. After spending an afternoon with the boy's animal form, he wanted to check in with the human one too. It was kind of disconcerting otherwise, having the green dog insist you play with it, but the boy avoid you afterwards.

He knocked on the door to Beastboy's room, and it was answered by a guilty-looking teen.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Robin realised he didn't really know what to _say_, he'd just wanted to physically _see_ the boy, to make sure he was okay.

"You didn't come down for dinner, aren't you hungry?" he said, finding his tongue after an awkward pause.

Beastboy started making his excuse. "Oh, no, I'm not really-" His gut let out an incriminating gurgle. "... I was going to go down later," he corrected.

Robin nodded at the lie, still at a loss for words because what he really wanted to know was if Beastboy was avoiding him, and if so, why? But he knew he couldn't ask without looking crazy because who jumps to that conclusion after not seeing somebody for only three or four hours?

He nodded approvingly. "Good, good... Because, you know, we have to keep our strength up, and you must be hungry after-"

It always came back to that, didn't it?

"After this afternoon," he finished nervously clearing his throat, before everything he'd been holding in all spilled out in a rush. "Look I'm sorry if I treated you like a dog this afternoon, it's just that you _were_ a dog at the time, physically anyway, and I thought that was what you wanted and I-"

Beastboy hastened to correct him as soon as the word 'dog' registered in his mind. "Oh no you don't have to apologise, I _did_ want that, we were just having fun and I liked being your dog so you don't have to worry-"

They stopped when they realised they were talking over each other and neither of them could understand a word anymore. They looked away from each other, uncomfortable.

Robin took the lead, as usual. "I guess what I'm trying to say is... I had fun today. Thanks," he said.

"Me too... Does that mean you wouldn't mind... doing it again sometime?" Beastboy responded, his eyes nailed to the floor and his hand making an absent motion of trying to go into a pocket that wasn't there.

"No, sure, I wouldn't mind. I'd like that," Robin answered.

"Ok... good..." Beastboy couldn't meet the older teen's eyes, but he sure hoped the tilt of his head hid the goofy smile that he wasn't able to stop spreading across his face.

"Yeah... So I'll see you later then. Make sure you eat something." Robin said to keep up the pretence that that was the reason he'd come to check on Beastboy, stepping slowly away from his door.

"I will... Bye..." Beastboy said with a last glance upwards before shutting his door.

That night, Robin had just settled into bed for the night when he heard his door slide open. Alert, eyes and ears open, he kept perfectly still, his body relaxed, his breathing calm and even, feigning sleep. For a long moment he didn't hear anything, but then a strange breathing that didn't follow the expected patterns started and moved to the other side of his double bed. An intruder? Should he fight? Why hadn't any alarms sounded?

Then his bed shook hard as it was jumped on, almost making Robin cry out in alarm, but he kept a tight grip on himself. There was no mistaking who, and what it was now. That move had been so far from stealthy that there was no way it was an enemy, and anyone taller than four feet would have been able to get on the bed without jumping. There was also no mistaking the circling motion performed by dogs before they lie down.

After Beastboy had settled down onto his covers, Robin rolled over slowly, feeling the dog freeze as it realised he was awake. It was so dark in the room that the German Shepherd looked black, only the barest glint of light reflecting off his eye as he watched his leader, waiting to see if he would be thrown out. But Robin merely shifter closer and made himself comfortable.

Taking this as an acceptance, and making possibly the boldest move he'd ever made, Beastboy crawled awkwardly forward and gently laid his head on Robin's chest, his heart pounding, at the point where it met with the boy's stomach so he would still be able to breathe easily. Robin moved one hand onto the dog's head, gently stroking the soft fur with his thumb as they lay there in the dark. He wondered what on earth they were doing, but he couldn't find anything wrong with it – if he'd had a dog growing up, sharing the bed would have been quite normal - so he let the comforting weight of Beastboy's head stay. As for the green teen, he hadn't known what to expect when he'd gone into Robin's room, probably a couple of hours sleep on the empty side of the bed before he got cold and ashamed and went back to his room, having got it out of his system and never to do it again. Instead, he closed his eyes as the blissfully gentle working of the older teen's fingers on top of his skull put him to sleep like a drug.


	3. The Beach

Chapter 3

It was the last week of term before the schools were let out for summer holidays. The Titans had just wrapped up a long and difficult case against Control Freak, and so they decided to go to the beach and take advantage of the good weather before it got busy. It was Beastboy's idea, and it had taken some convincing to get all the Titans to go.

"Come ooooooooon," he whined, "We never get to gooooo, we always spend all summer stuck in this stupid tower, I wanna go outsiiiiiiide." His main opponent was Raven, who would always prefer to be indoors, in the gloom, with some ancient book. The idea of driving an hour away to deliberately sit on sand, in the _sun_ no less, was not only nonsensical to her, but downright _cruel_.

But she wasn't the only one. There wasn't much at the beach for Cyborg either. His metal body made him way too heavy to go in the water without drowning, and he'd be dusting sand out of his circuits for weeks.

"I'd like to go, it sounds fun," agreed Robin from where he was watching across the room, and Beastboy gave him a grateful look over his shoulder. "Beastboy's right, we never get any time off. The beach is a good idea, we'd still be near to the city if something happens, and we'd only be gone for the afternoon," he argued with a shrug.

"I too would enjoy the beach," Starfire said, floating up in the air at the prospect, her hands clasped in front of her chest. "The sunshine and the ocean are most enjoyable!"

"Yeah, see? _They_ get it - don't be such a stick in the mud," Beastboy persuaded.

"You can go, I can stay here," Raven replied. "I don't see what the problem is."

"Because we all have to go together as a team! Come on, Raven, socialise!" Beastboy implored.

"Yeah Raven, you and I can go do something else while they're doing their thing," Cyborg said. "We can get you a parasol, or I'm sure there's gotta be a book store somewhere. These seaside places always have those weird little shops you like."

"Why are you going?" Raven asked him, knowing full well that he wasn't exactly going to frolic in the sand with the rest of them.

"Nobody drives my baby but me," Cyborg answered, affection and pride welling in his human eye at the thought of the T-car.

Raven sighed heavily. She could see Beastboy's point. It would be a bit much if she refused to hang out with them just because of a little sun – she would just have to suffer through it for her friends' sakes.

"Alright..." she agreed reluctantly, and Beastboy whooped in joy.

"I gotta go get my trunks!" he cried, and whizzed out of the room. Robin watched him go, smiling slightly as he thought of how enthusiastic the green teen could still be, even after everything he had gone through in his life.

An hour later, they were on the road. Cyborg put the top down on the latest model of the T-car, and they were enjoying the sun as they took the scenic route through the hills to avoid the city traffic. The weather was warm, the roads were pretty quiet, and it felt good to have the wind in their hair.

Cyborg and Raven were in the front, and Beastboy was in the middle in the back, giggling in anticipation and pleasure, trying to strike up a conversation but generally just talking to himself.

Robin glanced at him from the corner of his eye, invisible under his mask. It had been three weeks since they'd gone to that park, and they hadn't found the occasion to go back. And "BB the German Shepherd" had disappeared from his bed when Robin woke up the morning after. There had been a few awkward looks between them, both of them trying to figure out what was going on without asking and embarrassing themselves – because you weren't supposed to just _ask_ that sort of thing, what if it was supposed to be clear? What if there was in fact _nothing_ going on and you were the only one who felt it? But after a few days, they had just fallen into exactly where they'd been before. They worked on defending the city, and when they weren't doing that, Beastboy hung out with Cyborg. It was just easier that way. Harmless.

But Robin was still thinking about it. And he was still noticing the little green elf more than he used to, and he was still making him smile. And he was still catching Beastboy looking at him. Whatever was happening, it hadn't gone away, even if they were pretending it had.

Robin stood on the beach, looking at the water. He was wearing only his red shorts, with his yellow 'R' emblem on the pocket, and his mask. The sun warmed his bare chest and back, and the sand was hot under his feet, but it wasn't too much. It was great actually, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been to the beach, and he dug his toes into the hot sand.

Cyborg was off talking vehicles with some guys he'd found with a customised car who'd parked nearby where the concrete gave way to the beach. Raven was hidden in the shade of a parasol, sitting on a dark purple towel with a book. Starfire had embraced the spirit of the day more thoroughly, and her violet bikini was currently keeping her busy with the surrounding male population, who were all suddenly very interested in getting to know her. People knew the Titans were here, but so far, it wasn't causing too much of a fuss.

Beastboy ran up behind Robin, wearing purple shorts. He had a Frisbee in his hand. Robin found himself strangely happy to see him. All the other Titans were occupied, but Robin had never felt lonely being by himself before. But having Beastboy's eager face in front of him made the beach seem more fun.

"Hey," Beastboy said, and Robin noticed he looked nervous. "You wanna play some Frisbee?" he asked, his voice cracking on the word 'Frisbee'.

Robin smiled, "Sure," he said, holding out his hand for the toy. Beastboy passed it to him and immediately transformed into the familiar canine face of the German Shepherd. Robin didn't know if he'd been expecting that – he could have played with the human Beastboy just as easily – but he still laughed as the dog barked and leapt for the Frisbee. He threw it into a large empty space, and the dog went tearing after it, kicking up sand and skidding.

They'd been playing like that for a few minutes, when Robin noticed a trio of girls standing away from him but obviously watching. They were chattering quietly but energetically between themselves and pointing at him. It was obvious they had recognised him, but then he wasn't exactly trying to hide who he was, not like in the park. With the other Titans so close by, it would have been pointless.

Beastboy returned with the Frisbee, but Robin was distracted, keeping one eye on the girls because he knew it was inevitable that they would come over to talk to him. He took the disk out of his friend's mouth but didn't throw it again, and Beastboy whined inquisitively, but the girls seemed to have gathered enough courage to come over.

"Hi, um, sorry but, you're Robin, right?" the girl in the middle said, a brunette in a bikini and a sarong. Her friends flanked her on either side, a blonde in a bikini top and denim shorts, and the other in a red swimsuit. Beastboy looked at them.

Robin knew he had to be friendly. Public relations were a very important part of being a superhero; if the public turned against you, you could be sunk. "Yeah, we're just taking a day off since it's been quiet recently. The others are over there," he said with a professionally welcoming tone and smile, gesturing behind him to Starfire's volleyball game and Raven's shaded oasis.

The girls glanced at his teammates, but it was clear they had no interest in being deflected that easily. "That's cool... So, um, do you think we could have your autograph or something?" They were all smiling charmingly, fidgeting and giggling. The celebrity aspect of crime fighting might have been something that Superman indulged in, but Batman had always avoided it, and Robin had to say he could see why. It was flattering to have pretty girls fawning over him, but he was in the middle of something, and he kind of wanted to get back to his game with Beastboy.

"I don't have a pen," Robin replied with an apologetic shrug.

The girls laughed. "Oh right, duh, who brings a pen to the beach? Sorry."

Beastboy was getting impatient. He was snapping at the Frisbee and pushing against Robin's legs as if he was trying to get the boy to walk away.

"That's a cool dog you have there, we didn't know you guys had a dog," one of the friends at the side said. Robin looked at her, wondering if she really hadn't figured out that the _green_ dog at his side was actually his _green_ teammate, Beastboy, whose power was turning into animals. He looked down at the dog at his side, trying to see if he was expected to tell the girls the truth or go along with it. But Beastboy just stared blankly up at him, and he figured if Beastboy wanted to be revealed, he would change into a human and do it himself, so Robin just turned back to the girls and said, "Thanks."

The main girl stepped forward, closer than was necessary, and said, "So listen, we were just about to go get something to drink, and it'd be really cool if you came with us." She batted her eyelashes like she knew what she was doing. Beastboy whined louder and pushed against Robin's legs again, moving to stand between him and the girls.

"Sorry, I think I'd better stay with my team," Robin replied, politely refusing.

"Aw, come on, they look like they're doing fine on their own. It'll only be for a few minutes," she cajoled, and then she reached and lightly brushed his arm with her fingertips, as if her meaning wasn't clear enough already.

Beastboy growled up at her, but she continued to ignore him. Robin put a hand on the dog's neck as if to hold him back.

Robin managed not to flinch away but he did frown and shrug her hand off. "I don't think so," he said, his tone noticeably colder.

"Geez, don't be like that, what's the problem?" The girl asked cattily, putting her hands on her hips, clearly not used to being refused.

Suddenly, instead of German Shepherd, there was a Bengal tiger standing between them. Beastboy wasn't growling or tensed to pounce, he was barely even facing them with the way Robin had drawn him across his body so that his side was to the girls, but they still screamed.

With various gasps and screams, the girls quickly staggered back, shocked and scared of the green tiger. The commotion attracted the attention of others nearby, who also started screaming at the sight of Beastboy's new form. The situation was rapidly evolving into a bad one.

Beastboy saw this and quickly changed into his human form, stepping towards the girls with his hands out. "No, it's okay, see? It's just me!" he cried, but it didn't really help. The spectators on the edges who hadn't seen the whole thing didn't understand what had happened, and assumed Beastboy had done something to threaten the girls and quickly closed in. Meanwhile, two of the girls themselves were still scared, and the blonde had run off after the big boys playing volleyball. Robin watched as the girl pointed back at them and the boys abandoned the game, not looking pleased.

A crowd was forming around them.

"What's going on here?" a man said.

"What were you doing to those girls?"

"You think it's funny to use your powers to scare people?"

They were encircling Beastboy, and Robin was getting pushed away. He could hear his friend's voice hurriedly trying to explain himself as he disappeared from sight.

"No! It wasn't like that, I wasn't trying to scare them! I... I was just..."

Robin was pushing through the crowd, trying to get to him, while on the other side, the biggest of the volleyball players already had.

"Hey! You think it's funny scaring my girlfriend, you little green freak? Huh? Do you? Well let's see you turn into a tiger for _me_, Freakboy, come on, let's see you do it now for me..."

Robin pushed through just in time to see a guy closer in size to Cyborg than either of them, with easily five or six years on Beastboy, shove the green teen hard enough to make him stumble. Robin saw red as he watched that, seeing the scared and victimised expression on Beastboy's normally smiling and optimistic face.

He snapped. "Hey! Don't touch him!" he ordered, marching into the fray and grabbing the guy's hand. Maybe he could push around Beastboy, who couldn't defend himself without using his powers, but Robin would have loved to see him try it with him. Beastboy was way too nice to fight back, even with this idiot. He probably also realised that as a hero, he couldn't use his powers against civilians, and if he did, the situation would explode. Beastboy's character was good enough to take a public beating rather than hurt people.

But Robin couldn't say the same at that moment. If the guy made a move, Robin would take him out.

"Robin? Beastboy?" He heard Starfire calling, having been brought over by the commotion. She and Raven were levitating over the crowd, watching in concern. They also realised they could do nothing without using their powers on civilians.

"It's okay, Starfire. I'll handle this," Robin reassured them, narrowing his eyes at Beastboy's assailant, who didn't seem to have understood that he didn't have a hope in hell of laying another finger on the green teen.

"Oh yeah? How you gonna do that, hotshot?"

The Boy Wonder pushed the other guy's hand back, putting painful pressure on his wrist and forcing him onto his knees. "Like this," he growled, but then he felt a hand on shoulder, and turned to find Beastboy standing behind him, his green eyes large.

"Robin, don't. Let him go," he said, and Robin begrudgingly released the idiot's hand, who snatched it back and rubbed it, his face like thunder.

"You're gonna pay for that," he spat.

Robin glared at him, "You just don't get it, do you?" Starfire and Raven landed in the circle, surrounding Beastboy. "This guy's got friends. And you don't want to mess with any of us."

Finally accepting defeat, the guy got to his feet bad-temperedly, and gestured to his gang to leave with him. With them gone, it only took some gentle persuasion from Starfire and Raven to get the rest of the crowd to wisely wander away.

Robin turned to Beastboy. "You alright?"

Beastboy looked at the ground, obviously upset. "Yeah, it's okay," he said, and it physically hurt Robin to see the younger boy lie like that and try to be strong. He put his hand on his shoulder.

"Look, don't worry about them, okay? They're just jerks, some people will never appreciate what you do for them, but we do it anyway, right? And you did the right thing just now," he said, trying to comfort the boy.

"I'd better go find Cyborg," said Raven, flying away.

"Indeed, perhaps it would be best to return home," Starfire said, looking worried.

"You're probably right, let's-"

"No! Come on, guys, we just got here, we don't have to leave because of me," Beastboy objected. "You guys stay, I'll go." And with that, he morphed into a bird and flew away.

The Boy Wonder watched him go. "That's not good, we'd better go after him," Robin said, so Starfire lifted him by his arms and went after the green bird, staying far enough behind not be noticed.

They watched as Beastboy found a small enclave in the shore, almost a private beach, a patch of sand cut off by high rocks on either side. He landed, so Robin said to Starfire,

"Put me down there, then go tell Raven where we are. I'll talk to him, and we can find our own way back to the car."

Beastboy spotted them and looked annoyed at having been followed, but he didn't try to run away again as Robin was deposited and Starfire left them alone. He kicked the sand as Robin approached cautiously, and when his leader sat down and looked expectantly at him, he went over and sat beside him. For a moment, neither of them said anything.

Then Robin sighed. "I don't know what to say to make you forget all that stuff just now. I'm not very good at this kind of thing," he said.

"It's okay, I'm used to it. People don't like me, I get it. I am _green_ after all," Beastboy replied, folding his arms on top of his knees and resting his chin on them.

Robin looked at him. He'd never seen so much of the boy's bare skin at once before, his uniform covered everything but his head. He could see the bumps of Beastboy's spine on his back, the angles of his shoulder blades, the ridges of his ribs on his sides, and every inch of it was covered by smooth emerald skin.

"That doesn't mean anything," Robin told him.

"Robin, I know I'm a freak. People are always trying to see if I have fur under my clothes, or a tail, or asking me to transform into different animals for them on command, like some kind of sideshow. That's what they want to know when they meet me, am I human or an animal?"

Robin didn't know what to say. He'd never witnessed anybody act that way towards Beastboy, but the only times they really went out together was as a group when people were too intimidated to approach them, or to fight crime. It made sense he would never have seen that if he was never there for him.

"...I didn't know things were that way for you," he said.

Beastboy shrugged. "Who can blame them? With these ears, teeth, everything else, sometimes even I'm afraid that I'm not human anymore. That's why I need the superhero life, there isn't any other one out there for me. You know, if I don't cut my nails, I grow claws?" His green eyes were looking at him beseechingly, and Robin couldn't tell if Beastboy wanted him to believe that he was a monster, or if he desperately wanted him to convince him that he wasn't.

"Really?"

"Yeah, look." Beastboy held out his hand for Robin to look at, and it was true that the boy's nails were opaque, as if they were thicker and harder than a normal human's. Holding that hand in his own, Robin followed up Beastboy's arm, noting also that the hair on his arm was more like a short, soft fur. He ran his fingers over it lightly, not wanting to offend Beastboy by his curiosity. Beastboy's body was fascinating; not in the way that science is fascinating, but more in the way that magic is. Robin felt like he was becoming slowly hypnotised by it, that perfectly green, soft, Wicked Witch of the West skin.

Almost subconsciously, Robin slowly extended Beastboy's arm, turning it over to run his fingers over the velvet of the inside of his elbow, noting the dark green threads of his veins, hidden there just like on anybody else. The colour of Robin's own hand against it looked strange, so inviting. He couldn't stop himself from exploring further, his hand running up Beastboy's arm to his shoulder as if the skin itself was drawing him on by some magnetic force.

When he got there though, he was confronted by Beastboy's expression, and brought back to reality. The boy's mouth was slack and open slightly, revealing his white teeth and long canines, and his moist pink tongue, hidden like the inside of an oyster, all the colours sharpened by their frame of green. His eyes were wide and staring, alarmed and unsure, hopeful and scared. He didn't know what Robin was doing but he wasn't stopping him, his heart racing and his breath coming quick and shallow after his leader's tingling strokes.

Robin didn't remove his hands. There was nothing wrong with putting your hand on your friend's shoulder when he was feeling down, and Beastboy had _given_ him his hand, the hand that he still held, heavy and slightly clammy, tucked in against his chest as he was turned towards the green teen. He tried to remember what they'd been talking about. "I don't mind it," he said, his voice quiet and breathy because they were so close.

"You don't?" Beastboy squeaked nervously.

"No, I don't..."

The two boys were just looking at each other. Robin should really have moved his hands, but he didn't. The skin-on-skin contact felt so strange, so novel – he was always wearing gloves, he was used to that protective barrier, not having it felt... disarming. He wanted to feel more of that velvet glide of Beastboy's skin moving underneath his hand, so he pushed forth, the only place he could, down the boy's back. He stopped when his finger's rested on his shoulder blade, and his thumb was running languidly over the ribs under his arm. He could feel and see Beastboy's breathing deteriorate into anxious tremors every time he did that. What an interesting reaction; Robin wanted more of it. He wondered as if his mind was in a fog, where else he could touch and tease his teammate until he finally just said yes to it or no, or if his elf would stay passive and indecisive until Robin made him shake himself apart in his hands.

Beastboy swallowed dryly, and Robin waited with curiosity to hear what he would say.

"Why don't you take your mask off?"

That question was like a bucket of cold water being dunked over him. Take his mask off? Why? What were they doing? What _were_ they doing? Robin suddenly remembered himself and panicked. He separated himself from Beastboy stiffly, as if his limbs had frozen into that position and to alter it would cause them to crack.

Beastboy looked at him expectantly, apparently still expecting an answer to his question.

"Why do I have to?" he said, turning to face the horizon instead, looking out at the ocean, leaning back as if he was perfectly at ease.

"Well, I've seen you without it before. I just thought you might like to, you know..."

What Beastboy was really thinking was that if Robin had taken his mask off, it would have been more _intimate_. The atmosphere before had certainly called for intimacy, what with his leader's hands playing over his body, but that feeling had gone now so he couldn't say it anymore.

Robin asked him something so unexpectedly that Beastboy wasn't sure he'd heard correctly.

"What?"

"Does it bother you?" This time, Robin looked at Beastboy after he said it.

"Er..." Beastboy hadn't thought Robin cared if his mask bothered anyone. "Not usually, you know, when you're in uniform. I'm used to it. But if you're talking seriously with someone, it can be a little... unfair."

Robin looked away from him, thinking it over. "You're wiser than you look, you know that?" he said, but he didn't make it sound like a good thing. "Do you want me to take it off?" Robin turned his face to Beastboy.

"...Yeah," he said, making a decision. What decision, he didn't really know, but it involved having the confidence to make demands of the older boy.

Robin sat up and knelt opposite Beastboy. "Do _you_ want to take it off?"

Beastboy's heart jumped to his throat. What was hiding behind that question? Was it even a question, or was it an invitation? Beastboy decided to just find out. He mirrored Robin's position, and slowly raised his hands to his leader's face. The teen didn't move, so Beastboy continued, ever so carefully touching his fingers to the edges of the mask and peeling it slowly away. Robin thought his fingers felt warm and tickly against his temples.

Once the mask was off, Robin blinked several times before meeting Beastboy's eyes, which were looking both awed and amused.

"I don't see what so great about this, you know," he said gruffly, trying to toughen himself up when he felt so exposed.

"I do," Beastboy replied without thinking. He looked down at his hands where he still held the domino mask that was recognizable half the world over. He grinned. He'd just stripped Robin... of Robin. The boy sitting in front of him now was whoever Robin really was, mysterious as Beastboy didn't even know his name. But it wasn't important, if Robin had let him take off his mask, then he would surely tell him his real name one day.

"I wish I could have met you when I was normal," Beastboy said, smiling.

Robin cocked his head, trying to see Beastboy with peach skin and dusty brown hair, but it didn't work. "So do I," he agreed. "I bet you were just the same. And I doubt you were ever 'normal'," he teased with a grin.

"Heeeey..." Beastboy moaned, making Robin laugh. The older boy looked up at the sky.

"It's getting darker. It'll get cold soon. We should head back," he said.

"I could swim us back, bet you've never ridden a shark before," Beastboy said eagerly, leaping up.

Robin laughed again. "No, no, I haven't."

"You want to? Hammerhead or Great White?" It looked like Beastboy's upbeat nature had reasserted itself.

"If we're going in the water, I need my mask back. If you're done with it, of course," Robin joked, dusting the sand of his legs. Hopefully the water wouldn't have cooled yet.

"Not yet."

Robin suddenly found himself nose to nose with the green teen, who had stood on his tip toes and was supporting himself with his hands on Robin's shoulders.

"Beastboy, what are you doing?" he asked, but he was just shushed into silence. He waited, but it didn't become clear what was going on. It was very difficult not to look into Beastboy's eyes, as close as they were.

Beastboy meanwhile was staring hard at Robin's eyes, studying the faint striations and variations in colour in his irises, and the workings of his pupils. He watched as Robin tried to look away, growing increasingly uncomfortable, but the boy just steered his face back to his by placing his hand on his jaw. That made Robin even more nervous.

"What are you doing?" he asked again, but Beastboy didn't answer. He just kept staring until Robin finally gave up and held his eyes.

Beastboy let him go. "Ok, here you go," he said, tossing him the mask as he turned away.

"What was that about?" his leader said as they walked towards the water.

"Just a little experiment," Beastboy replied cryptically before diving into the ocean, and Robin gave up, recognising that he wasn't going to find out.

The truth was, even Beastboy wasn't a hundred percent sure what he'd been doing, but he supposed that if he had to say, he'd say he was trying to find out whether Robin would accept him or push him away if he forced his leader to face him, to see him. It looked like _really_ getting in his face might work.

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! This story seems to be getting quite a good response, which I'm pleased about. However, the problem is that it was going to be a one-shot, but then I thought of the whole dog idea, so I wrote chapter 2, but I felt I couldn't just leave it there, so I asked my friend to come up with an idea for this chapter and now... Basically I'm asking you for ideas, preferably locations but it could also be an action like Twister, or something like the dog thing, for the next chapter. If I can't get anything good, there might not be any more of this story! Also, where do we see this story going? Slow build-up to a kiss as the climax? Or are we going to change the rating to M ;) ? Personally, I don't see that happening. The characterisation that I have here makes me think that these two will NEVER be able to call themselves "gay". So are we thinking a focus on the more emotional than physical? Let me know!


	4. Self Defence

Chapter 4

The day after the beach, Beastboy was in the common room, playing his daily dose of video games against Cyborg, when his communicator went off with a crackle.

"Beastboy, meet me in the gym," Robin's voice ordered from his belt. The green teen looked down, expecting more, but nothing came. His leader hadn't made it sound like Beastboy was in trouble, or like the Titans had a mission, but Robin wasn't in the habit of summoning just one team member. If it was important he would have used the Tower's PA system to summon all of them, and if it wasn't important he would normally have come to find whoever he wanted to see without using his communicator.

Cyborg had obviously heard the order too, and was looking at his friend to know whether they would continue the game or not.

Beastboy swallowed. "Guess I'd better go see what's up," he said, surprising Cyborg as normally BB would whine about his gaming being interrupted. Instead, he was suspiciously okay with it. Cyborg watched the green teen put down his controller and walk stiffly away.

"Star! You wanna play?" the oldest Titan called across the room as he now found himself without an opponent, and where was the fun in that?

Beastboy didn't rush, but his insides were in turmoil. Why had Robin summoned just him like that? And why to the gym? It made sense if that was where Robin was – the gym was where Robin _always_ was – but if he wanted to see him, why not look for him?

_I guess he wants to see me alone,_ Beastboy thought. He swallowed again and wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers.

The door to the gym slid open, and Robin was waiting for him standing on the mat in the middle of the room. The boy was barefoot and wearing a white karate uniform with a black belt knotted around his waist. The only other black on him was his mask.

Beastboy edged nervously into the room. That outfit clearly said he was going to get his butt kicked.

"You, er, you wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Come in."

Beastboy stepped far enough in for the automatic door to slide closed behind him, making him jump.

Robin laughed. "Don't look so scared. I just thought I'd give you a lesson in self defence. Here, put these on." He threw an extra set of whites to Beastboy, who caught them against his chest. They were clean, the green teen could smell the detergent and softener wafting off them, but he could also smell the unmistakable scent of Robin's skin, something his sensitive nose was always attuned to. Robin's scent was deep in the fabric, as if it had sunk into the very fibres of the uniform, while the soap was just a surface layer. It was going to be pretty awkward wearing it.

"Self-defence?" Beastboy wondered as he opened the bundle up in his arms. Robin watched as his scared expression never wavered.

"Yeah, you know. So stuff like what happened yesterday doesn't happen anymore."

Beastboy cringed at the embarrassing memory of having to be rescued from the angry mob at the beach.

"It's okay, it doesn't happen so much anymore, and they never really hurt me-"

"Beastboy, just get changed," Robin insisted, interrupting his teammate's attempt to get out of it.

Beastboy whined, but reluctantly lay the karate uniform on the floor to strip. As he tugged off his gloves, he continued to argue. "I can always get out of it if I have to, you know, fly away or something..." With his gloves off, he self-consciously turned his back to Robin to pull his shirt over his head.

Robin watched the bony green expanse of Beastboy's back appear, well aware that the younger boy was being modest and didn't want him to see his bare skin. He wondered what difference it made when they had seen each other in swimming shorts just the day before, and Robin had even had his hands on him...

"Still. It's something you should know. One day you might find yourself in a situation where you can't use your powers, and I want you to be safe even then," Robin said, making Beastboy blush. How could he argue anymore when Robin goes and says something like that?

Beastboy slipped into the baggy white jacket-thing that probably had a name that he didn't know, and the smell of Robin unfolded around him. The little hairs on his arms stood up, as if his leader was somehow touching him through the fabric, and he tried to suppress a little shiver. He then had to contemplate the problem of changing his trousers. The jacket hung lower than his butt at least, but only just. Robin obviously seemed to intend for him to change in the gym, and if the older boy wasn't embarrassed, why should he be? He unclipped his belt and tried to quickly but casually peel off his trousers and replace them with the loose white ones, but that is something it is almost impossible to do gracefully.

Still with his back to Robin, facing the wall and so functionally blind, all he had left was the black belt. He was just going to knot it around his waist to keep the folds of the jacket closed, but suddenly Robin spoke.

"I'll do that," he said, and when Beastboy turned, Robin had come closer and was holding out his hand for the belt. There was nothing in the older boy's face that suggested ulterior motives, so Beastboy had to allow it. There was probably some special karate knot or something. He stepped onto the mat and closed the distance between them, handing Robin the belt. The jacket hung open, showing off his skinny green chest, especially since he had to hold his arms up like he was expecting a hug so that Robin could pass the belt behind his back. That move him brought them _rea~ally_ close together, and Beastboy tried to focus on a point over Robin's head, because he was sure that at that proximity, his leader would surely be able to feel his gaze if he looked at him.

Robin drew the jacket closed and deftly knotted the black strip over the join. "There." He thankfully moved away again, but Beastboy still wasn't quite at ease. Robin took up a position, legs apart and facing Beastboy sideways on. "Stand in front of me," he said.

Beastboy did as he was told, pulling awkwardly at the clothes. "Robin, are you sure about this? I mean, I'm not a fighter like you, this sort of thing, it doesn't really work for me the way it does for you, maybe we should just-"

"Beastboy, relax. What are you so afraid of? You don't think I'm actually going to hurt you, do you?" Robin asked, his enthusiasm a little dented by hurt feelings at the implication.

"No..." Beastboy thought about that. Yeah, Robin wouldn't _hurt_ him, just show him a few moves, and all he would have to do would be copy them and Robin would let him go. This whole thing could be over in half an hour. After all, Robin was an expert at this stuff, he knew what he was doing.

But just because Robin wouldn't hurt him, didn't mean he wouldn't get hurt. He could still very easily fall on his face on his own.

He stood opposite Robin, and made a half-hearted attempt to copy the boy's stance.

"Okay, now try and hit me," his leader commanded, looking game. The older boy had a bounce in his feet and a look of eager concentration that baffled Beastboy, who would not be so excited at the prospect of being attacked.

"Hit you?" Beastboy squeaked.

"Yeah. Try and punch me."

"Punch you?"

"Just... aim for my face."

"Your face?"

"Beastboy, don't worry, I'll block it. I mean, no offence but... I've been doing this a long time," Robin told him with a small smile.

"Oh, yeah, right, okay then, umm..." Beastboy put his fists up weakly, and he imagined hitting Robin, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't look at the face of his leader and his friend, the person who had given him a home and a family and a purpose, and bring himself to attempt to cause it pain.

"Ehh..." Beastboy moved his fist slowly forward in the vague direction of Robin's face, while scrunching up his own and turning his head into his shoulder, as if he was the one about to be hit.

His fist bumped into Robin's open palm and the boy's fingers closed around it. Beastboy cracked open an eye and looked. Robin was standing up straight now, holding his fist, with a distinctly unimpressed look on his face.

"Beastboy... What was that?" he said.

"I'm sorry! I just can't hit you! I don't want to!" Beastboy wailed, taking his fist back.

"You wouldn't hurt me," Robin insisted.

"That's not the point. I just can't... think of you that way. I can't do it," Beastboy explained, looking at the floor and scuffing his toe against the mat.

Robin exhaled slowly through his nose. He couldn't really argue with that. It wasn't a problem he'd ever had, but he should have expected that his kind and trusting teammate wouldn't be able to summon the necessary fighting spirit when facing his friend. Robin was a martial artist – had been for a long time – but Beastboy was blessed with seeing everything in black and white. He fought his enemies and _only_ his enemies. He wouldn't hit a friend anymore than he would make a deal with the bad guys; mistakes Robin had already made. In some ways, Robin realised, Beastboy was much stronger than him.

"Alright, Beastboy, let's try something else. What if I just show you how to defend yourself? I'll attack, and _you_ block," Robin suggested.

Beastboy paled into a watered-down jade, and he shook his head as his eyes widened and his mouth turned down at the corners as if he felt sick. When he took a step back, Robin reached forward and caught his arms gently.

"I won't hurt you, I promise. I'll go slow..." he said, easing the green teen towards him so that his weight was where it should be for the exercise. Beastboy still looked terrified, and it kind of hurt Robin to think that his friend didn't trust him. "Just stand there, and throw your arm up like this, okay?" Robin instructed, demonstrating the move.

Beastboy nodded, but he wasn't looking any better. Robin took his stance again.

"Ready?" The masked teen threw his fist forward in the direction of Beastboy's cheek, a direct path to where his teammate's arm should be when it performed the block. Robin was moving at a speed that his fighter's brain told him was useless, the blow wouldn't hurt at all if it connected, but apparently that wasn't good enough for Beastboy. There was a squeak and a flinch, and the youngest Titan seemed to disappear.

Robin dropped his fist and looked at the ground. There was a tiny green dormouse huddled on the mat where Beastboy had been standing, an adorable ball of fluff that was visibly shaking in fear, with its little paws shielding its little face, its eyes screwed shut.

Robin sighed and squatted down. "Beastboy..."

The little mouse cracked one beady eye open and its right foreleg came up in the blocking motion Robin had shown him. It was almost painfully cute, but it wasn't what Robin was looking for.

"Beastboy," he repeated more firmly. The mouse expanded into his teammate who sat leaning away from him looking disappointed in himself.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's alright," Robin replied, standing up and pulling Beastboy after him. "Just try harder this time. You'll feel good once you get it."

Beastboy didn't look convinced, but he managed to stay in human form long enough to complete the move the next couple of goes, and Robin was right; the more times he got it right, the better he felt. Robin was holding back less and less, and Beastboy was still managing to block him.

Robin saw the growing confidence in Beastboy and decided he could handle something harder.

"How about I show you a judo throw next?" he suggested.

Beastboy wasn't sure. "A judo throw?"

"It's easy, come on, stand behind me," instructed his leader, so Beastboy stood gingerly behind him. He didn't like where this was going.

"Now, try and grab me," Robin ordered. Beastboy didn't really get it, but he did as he was told and wrapped both arms around the masked teen's waist. There was a pause.

"Er, around my neck..."

"Oh! Sorry!" Embarrassed, Beastboy moved his arm to Robin's neck as if he was strangling him, though it was a bit of a reach. Robin took a secure grip on his arm.

"Alright, one, two, _three_!"

Beastboy felt his feet leave the ground and panicked. Robin was concentrating too hard on controlling his throw so Beastboy would land safely to notice the change, but when his teammate didn't go tumbling when he should have, and in fact stayed lodged firmly onto his shoulders, he frowned and looked behind him into the face of a blinking green octopus. The leader then looked down his front at the other seven tentacles that had joined the one around his neck in clinging to him for dear life.

Trying not to be too grossed out at the warm, squidgy appendages wrapped around his chest, stomach, legs and arms, Robin said "Beastboy... Can you get off me?"

The tentacles were retracted and he heard Beastboy's nervous giggle. "Oh yeah... Sorry..."

Robin turned to face the green teen. "Maybe that was too much of a jump in one go."

"No, I should have been able to handle it, I'm just not used to this stuff..." Beastboy chastised himself, looking at the mat again.

"So, you want to try again?" Robin asked, stepping towards him.

Trepidation flickered across Beastboy's face. "Uhh..." He was clearly still concerned about hurting himself, which was a possibility with this move.

Robin compromised. "Why don't you try throwing me instead? You won't get hurt that way, and neither will I, I know how to land."

"Uhh..." Beastboy wasn't sure, but he didn't want to disappoint his leader, who was clearly enjoying training with him.

Robin ignored his teammate's hesitation and stood behind him, placing his forearm across the boy's throat. The grip wasn't painful or suffocating, but Beastboy could feel the strength in Robin's arm anyway. More than that though, he could also feel the heat of Robin's body all down his back as they stood pressed together, and it was making him heat up for different reasons.

"Put your hands on my arm and pull down, while twisting your body to throw me over your shoulder," Robin explained. The green teen moved his hands, but didn't do anything else.

Beastboy didn't think it was going to be as easy as his leader seemed to. Robin was bigger than him, and he just couldn't picture a scenario in which he could overpower the older boy with physical strength alone, not in his human form. His human form was weedy and unimpressive, Beastboy knew that. It couldn't do much out of the ordinary, and him throwing Robin would certainly count as extraordinary. Instead, what he thought was likely to happen was that he would try the move and nothing would happen, thereby revealing to his hero just how weak and pathetic he was. Beastboy didn't really want to do that. He shifted his weight uncomfortably, still pinned to Robin's chest, aware that if he put it off much longer, Robin would get suspicious. He turned his head, looking up at Robin's face over his shoulder which was alarmingly close. Beastboy pulled back a little at the awkward intimacy.

"Robin... I don't really think this is such a good idea..." he began.

"You're not going to hurt me-"

"I'm not going to be able to do it-"

"Just give it a try-"

Beastboy was kind of getting annoyed at not being listened to. If he said he couldn't do it, he couldn't do it! But it looked like Robin wouldn't accept how feeble he was until Beastboy proved it, so with an unhappy grimace, the youngest Titan faced forward, planted his feet, thought strong thoughts, and wrenched down on Robin's arm while throwing his shoulders forward.

Robin slammed down on the mat as if he'd been thrown by Superman, and immediately curled up as he tried to force the air back into his lungs. At the same time, Beastboy realised he was looking down on his leader from a vantage point different from where it should have been. His eyes going wide with horror he shifted back to human form and threw himself to his knees beside Robin, who had recovered enough to be lying on his side.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! Robin, I didn't mean to do that, I swear!" His body had interpreted thinking "strong thoughts" as "silver-back gorilla", an animal six times as strong as an adult man. "Are you alright?" His hands hovered uncertainly over his leader, not quite trusting himself to touch him when he had been the one to hurt the dark-haired boy in the first place.

Robin looked up at Beastboy and tried to smile reassuringly, but Beastboy's worried expression didn't change, maybe because Robin was still gritting his teeth as he waited for the pain to recede from his spine. "It's alright," he said.

"No, it's not! I knew something like this would happen! I can't do anything right! You were just looking out for me and I hurt you!" Beastboy berated himself.

"Beastboy, I'm fine!" Robin insisted, trying to push himself up onto his arms and show his young teammate that he wasn't hurt, but the movement was slow and shaky because he was lying. He was lucky all of his bones were still intact.

The Titan leader froze when he noticed a couple of wet splotches on the red mat, and a second later he heard his teammate sniff. It looked like the green teen was taking this much harder than he was.

"Beastboy?" He tried to look at his friend's face but Beastboy kept turning away and avoided his leader's inspection. Finally, Robin just reached out and laid his hand on Beastboy's cheek, turning his face towards him. The boy's face was flushed dark green and his bottom lip was shaking as a new tear dampened Robin's hand. He'd never seen Beastboy cry before, and it kind of took his breath away, but it didn't make him as uncomfortable as he thought it would have. "You don't have to cry about it," he said softly, leaning towards Beastboy who still refused to look at him.

Beastboy sniffed again and wiped his cheeks with his hands. The feel of Robin's bare hand reminded him of the beach and made him very aware that he was being touched. "I'm not crying," he insisted, making Robin smile.

"I'm okay, see? I just lost my breath for a second. You didn't hurt me," Robin repeated his attempt to comfort his teammate.

"I screwed up though," Beastboy murmured, finally turning his green eyes to meet Robin's, making his leader think for a second that he'd never seen them so big and shiny. It must have been the tears. "I never should have even tried."

"It was my fault, I shouldn't have forced you into something you didn't want to do," Robin replied.

"You were just trying to help," Beastboy said, stubbornly clinging onto the blame.

"You have your own fighting style, I should have seen that. I should stop thinking I have the answers to everything."

Beastboy pulled his knees up in front of him and curled his arms around them, laying his chin down sulkily. "But you do," he pouted.

"No, I don't, but if you want to believe that, then you have to believe it's not your fault, right? Because I said so?" Robin said, once again ducking his head to try to catch Beastboy's eyes. By now the pain in his back was mostly gone, he was just a little stiff, and would probably feel fine by the evening. "Right?"

Beastboy nodded reluctantly.

"Right." Robin forced himself to his feet and held out a hand to Beastboy, who took it and allowed himself to be pulled up. "Come on, let's go get something to eat," he said, predicting that Beastboy would feel better after one of his tofu waffles with syrup.

OoO

Later that night, as Robin lay in bed, he smiled to himself at the memory of how quickly Beastboy had cheered up once he'd had some food in him. They'd spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV with the others as if nothing had happened. His smile faded though as the image of Beastboy's tear-filled eyes jumped unbidden into his thoughts. Robin frowned. His pushing had made his teammate feel like crap and reinforced all the negative ideas he had about himself. Robin would have to be careful not to do that again.

As that thought passed through his head, he felt something tickle his leg under the covers. Startled, and ever ready to be attacked, Robin leapt out of the bed, his fists up. He scanned the room but didn't see anything. But he _knew_ he had felt something. He quickly ripped the duvet off his bed but it was empty. He shook it out and looked all over the duvet, but again, nothing.

Confused, he looked over at his door. He hadn't heard it open but... Then he saw something he never thought he'd see. A strand of spaghetti was banging its head against his door as if trying to get it to open. He took several steps towards it, and it turned to look at him, then dove under the door.

Robin lunged and managed to pinch the end of the skinny green snake between his fingers before it could escape, and pulled it back from under the door. It twirled slowly as he dangled it in front of his face, and if a snake could look guilty, this one did.

Robin sighed and pooled the snake in his palm, then walked over and let it slither onto his stripped bed.

"Beastboy, what are you doing? You scared me," he chastised gently.

The snake exploded into its much larger human form, and Beastboy squirmed uncomfortably. "I was just checking..." he said.

"Checking what?" Robin asked, unable to think of anything Beastboy would need to check in his room. He knew he had allowed BB the German shepherd to sleep with him that one time, but that was weeks ago and Beastboy's dog persona hadn't made an appearance since.

"I couldn't sleep, so I just thought I'd check... on you, see if maybe you couldn't sleep either. Make sure you weren't working or something. I know that sometimes you do that - not sleep I mean... But I can see you're fine so I'm gonna stop embarrassing myself now and just go," Beastboy said, scooting off the bed and attempting a hasty exit.

"You can stay," Robin cried to his back, stopping him. "...We can hang out, if you want."

Beastboy turned, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment and he laughed awkwardly. "It's okay, I'll let you get back to sleep. Thanks for offering though," he said, and he disappeared out the door.

Feeling confused, though he didn't know about what exactly, Robin picked up his duvet and heaved it back onto the bed. Maybe it was just the adrenaline caused by finding a snake in his bed, but his nerves felt all jangly, and as he lay back down and stared at the ceiling, he felt like Beastboy's sleeplessness was going to prove to be contagious.

**Author's note:** Hey guys, I know you've been waiting a long time for this, thanks for letting me know that in your reviews! They made me give this fic more importance than it otherwise would have gotten. And I've got ideas for two or three more chapters so don't worry, this isn't the end yet


	5. Truth or Dare

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the long wait guys, but thanks for sticking with it, and letting me know you're sticking with it. Hope it's worth the wait!

Chapter 5

Almost a week passed before Robin and Beastboy were alone together again.

The Titans, or at least, all of them except their youngest member, were sitting in the common room late in the evening, trying to cure Cyborg's boredom.

"We could watch a DVD," suggested Robin from the couch, his head tilted back, staring at the ceiling aimlessly.

"I've already watched two today," replied Cyborg from the armchair, his feet up on the low table.

"Play a video game," Robin tried again.

"I've played them all; I'm either finished or stuck," Cyborg rejected.

"Well, why not go down to the gym and do some training?" That was what Robin did when he was bored.

"I don't feel like it, I'll be going to bed in a few hours," Cyborg complained.

"Why don't you just go to bed now?"

"I won't be able to sleep."

Robin hadn't thought Cyborg needed to sleep to recharge, he had thought he just needed to plug in... but he wasn't going to say that because it was probably massively insensitive to draw attention to the ways his accident had changed the eldest Titan.

"You could read a book," croaked Raven from where she floated in a corner across the room, lurking like a spider or something. The boys just looked at her, letting their expressions tell her that was barely even worth suggesting.

Starfire gasped from the kitchen where she stood in front a bowl of something purple and bubbling. "There is a game I saw played on the television that looked most intriguing!" she said, flying over to sit cross-legged in the air, mirroring the other female on the team. "The players sit in a circle, and spin a bottle in the middle," she explained.

At the phrase 'spin a bottle,' the boys had paled a little.

"And the player who spins the bottle, must ask a question of the player to whom the bottle points, 'Truth or dare?'"

The boys exhaled in relief and exchanged a glance.

"And then, according to that players response..." Starfire was using her hands to demonstrate what she meant, but the various 'this player,' 'that player,' had got her tangled, and judging from the little crease between her alien eyebrows, she was starting to get confused. "And the answer is sometimes truth, and sometimes dare, but I cannot tell how you are supposed to know which is right! I fear I must ask Mr Google," she finished.

"Don't worry, Star, I know what you're talking about. The game's called 'Truth or Dare' and you have to choose between the two, there's no right or wrong answer," Robin enlightened her.

"Well, it looked most truthful and most daring!" she gushed. Clearly, for her, the game was an exciting discovery.

Robin looked at Cyborg, to try and judge how he felt about playing. They were all a little old for it, but it had been ages since they'd played, and a couple of dares might be just what they needed on this uneventful evening. The Titan's leader didn't mind playing, he just wouldn't pick 'truth' too often.

Cyborg shrugged, "Nothing else going on," he agreed.

"I'll go get Beastboy," Robin said, getting to his feet. A game like this needed the whole gang.

Robin headed toward the green teen's room. He knew his youngest teammate had been training earlier, and as he headed towards the corridor that led to Beastboy's room, he started to be able to hear singing. A loud, completely tuneless, off-pitch signing in a squeaky, uneven voice.

"Touch my body, put me on the floor, just a little taste, know you like my curves..."

Robin put his hand over his mouth and crept towards the bathroom Beastboy and Cyborg shared.

"Touch my body, wrestle me around... What's that, Mr Frog? The voice of an angel? Why thank you! Yes, of course you can have my autograph, I'd be happy too..."

Robin was forced to close his eyes as he tried not to laugh so that Beastboy wouldn't hear him. The green teen was obviously in the bath, relaxing after his training, and while Robin had heard him signing badly in the shower before, this was something else. It wasn't just the unfortunate choice of song, the complete lack of talent, the mixed up lyrics or the bath toy fantasies, it was that with everyone else downstairs, the poor elf had absolutely no deniability. But at least it was Robin who was eavesdropping. He wouldn't tell, whereas Cyborg would almost certainly be filming the whole thing.

The Boy Wonder was now standing outside the bathroom door as he heard the squeaking of a rubber duck.

"You want your cape, Mr Duck? Well, certainly, here you go. Off to fight crime!" And the youngest Titan crudely sang a few notes of a heroic theme before switching to a new song at half the volume of the other one. "Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday-"

Robin knocked on the door, and all noises from within stopped abruptly. Robin grinned as there was a long, silent pause. Part of him felt bad for his teammate, but he couldn't resist. He knocked again and he heard water moving around as Beastboy changed position.

"Who is it?" squeaked the boy from within, and Robin could just picture him clasping the rim of the bath, crouching behind it as if the intruder was in the room with him.

"Mariah Carey," Robin answered coolly, making no attempt to disguise his voice.

There was a big splash this time, and Robin instantly became worried, regretting the fun he had made at the expense of his friend. "Beastboy, are you alright?" he called. The door was locked, as it didn't slide open automatically, but he could have overridden it through the computer.

He was answered by the squeaking of hands and feet on wet plastic and some more splashing, followed by the sound of someone blowing water away from their mouths.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Beastboy cried.

Robin laughed, "Okay then. When you're done in there, we're going to play 'Truth or Dare' downstairs if you want to join us."

"Oh, cool! I'm coming!" This was followed by more splashing and a certain amount of thumps, as if Beastboy was hopping around as he got out of the bath and dried himself off. Robin heard the pop and gurgle of the plug being pulled.

Suddenly the door hissed open and Beastboy almost ran into him. Holding a towel around his waist with drops of water still clinging to his naked skin, the green teen startled his leader into stumbling backwards. The hot air from the bathroom poured into the corridor, carrying with it the cosmetic smell of bubble bath and shampoo.

"Sorry!" Beastboy called, holding out his free hand in alarm.

Robin looked back at him. "...Nice hair," he said.

"Huh?" Beastboy put a hand to his head, and found the mohawk he'd built there out of shampoo or conditioner. He wailed in dismay and fled back into the bathroom, rinsing quickly in the sink. Robin stood in the doorway and watched.

"I'll meet you downstairs, shall I?" Robin suggested. Beastboy just gave a nervous little laugh in reply.

When Robin walked back into the common room, he saw Cyborg finishing off a glass bottle of soda with a long belch, while Starfire applauded gleefully. Raven was standing by the coffee table, which was now clear of the usual disk cases, empty glasses and snack wrappers.

"He's coming," he announced when she looked over to him.

They gathered around the table, kneeling as they waited for Beastboy to come down.

"Who starts?" asked Cyborg.

"Oh! Oh! Please allow me!" Starfire cried.

Just then the doors slid open and Beastboy came in. He wasn't wearing his uniform, instead he was wearing a faded black T-shirt and baggy grey sweatpants. Even though he had seen him less five minutes ago, Robin was surprised at this wilful display of skin. He must have just thrown on whatever was at hand, or knowing him, it was possible he just didn't have any clean uniforms left. The boy's hair was still wet and messy from being rubbed with a towel.

"Hope you guys didn't start without me," he giggled as he vaulted the couch.

"Nope, Starfire was just about to," Cyborg told him.

The Tamaranian reached out and spun the bottle with great care so that it revolved slowly and only made about one turn and a half. There wasn't a lot of suspense in it, but with her super-strength, it was probably for the best. It landed on Raven.

Starfire leant across the table with a serious, interrogatory look and asked "Truth... Or dare," like a hardened TV detective.

Raven seemed to decide that revealing a secret was better than being forced to move around, and so she coolly replied "Truth."

At this, Starfire whipped out a notepad and pen, and still with the keen look in her eyes, asked "What... is your favourite colour?"

"Er, Star, that's not really-" Robin began, but he was cut off by Raven's answer.

"Blue," she stated simply, and then the bottle spun with a push from some negative energy.

And so it went. Robin and Cyborg chose dares, unless they were from Starfire in which case they were usually something like "Count to ten backwards!" or "Touch your nose with your eyes closed!" From her they took truths, because her questions were never anything even remotely prying and it seemed to make her happy to add to her little notebook of birthdays and favourite colours, foods, numbers, etc. Starfire would always take a long time considering her options when it was her turn, and consequently received the easy dares and truths she seemed to prefer in order to move on quickly. Robin and Cyborg were the hardest on each other, but they rose to the challenge, seeking to outdo each other with every turn.

Raven chose truths mostly, as her secrets were so well-kept that nobody would think to ask about them, and her toneless replies did not encourage teasing or wicked speculation about her past or private life. Beastboy wanted to compete with Robin and Cyborg as they dared each other, but more than once he landed on his head, pulled a muscle or chickened out, making him miss a turn until he started choosing truths more and more.

It was an awkward game to play. None of them wanted to humiliate or endanger their teammates, or say something that would reflect badly on them, but at the same time they had to choose challenges that were, well, challenging. They had to choose Truths that were worth asking, that they didn't already know and that the other person might not necessarily want to answer - that was the point of the game. But they didn't want to hurt anyone, and so they always had to act with a degree of caution.

But as the game went on, the dares grew more daring and the truths more probing. It was a natural, fairly subtle progression driven by the occasional challenge that would go a little further than the previous ones and that drew laughter and jeers, but no serious objection. Starfire eventually ran out of questions like "What's your favourite animal?" (to which Robin replied, "a dog") and began venturing into wilder waters, while Robin and Cyborg's rivalry escalated to the point that they were either going to break something, perhaps their own bones, or make themselves very sick before they stopped. Raven proved to be surprisingly game, providing original, challenging and yet safe dares for those who wanted them.

It was Cyborg's turn to spin, and when the bottle landed on Beastboy, he grinned.

"Alright!" he cried, leaning forward with his hand on his knee so that his elbow stuck out. "Truth or dare?" he asked.

Beastboy didn't particularly like the eager expression on his friend's face, but he hadn't given up entirely on proving himself, and so he took the chance. "Dare."

Cyborg smirked at if the green teen had just sealed his fate somehow. His mismatched eyes roamed the common room, looking for something disgusting, dangerous or humiliating to make the boy do, but he had trouble finding something. It felt like between them they had already exhausted all the good dares. Then his eyes stopped as he got an idea. It was childish and unoriginal, yes, but it might just be something his victim would refuse to do, especially with an audience.

"I dare you... to kiss..." Cyborg said, thinking about it while Beastboy's heart sank. He immediately wanted to change his answer to Truth , but just then, an uncharacteristically loud yawn came from Raven, utterly destroying the moment and making everyone look at her instead.

"Sorry," she said in her usual deadpan monotone.

"Er, if you're tired, Rae, we can stop," Beastboy suggested tentatively, his eyes flicking worriedly between the other Titans.

"Hey, you don't get out of it that easily," Cyborg objected

"We _have_ been playing for almost two hours," argued Robin as if he hadn't heard Cyborg.

"Maybe... it is time for us to retire..." Starfire admitted reluctantly.

"Yeah..." Robin seconded, standing up and practically forcing the others to follow him.

As Beastboy lay in bed soon after, he was unable to sleep because Cyborg's dare had disturbed him, dredging up the usual feelings of inadequacy, this time mixed with painful memories of Terra. When there was a knock on his door, he was almost grateful, throwing back the covers and getting up, running back to hide Mr Monkey under them before he opened the door.

"Um, hi," Robin said when Beastboy appeared before him.

"Hi," Beastboy returned, his voice uncertain and whispery, which made it sound all breathy, embarrassing the green teen and making him clear his throat.

"You, er, didn't finish your turn," said his leader, not meeting his eyes.

"No... I guess I didn't..." Beastboy replied, not sure where this was going but growing nervous nonetheless.

Robin shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Would you like to?" He murmured it so quietly while looking at the floor that Beastboy wasn't sure he'd understood – and even if Robin _had_ said what he thought he'd said, he still didn't understand.

His little heart was racing, but he trusted that this wasn't a trick of some sort, so he stood back from the door. "O-Okay..."

Robin came into the room and the door slid shut behind them, making the room totally dark as Beastboy had turned the lights off when he'd gone to bed.

"S-Sorry!" he cried, fumbling for the light switch and tripping over something he'd left on the floor in the process. As he stumbled and hit the wall, he felt Robin's arm against his chest, catching him. His whole stomach seized with he didn't know what, and when he heard his leader breathe "Careful," next to his ear, he thought he would pee his pants.

Instead, a high-pitched, almost frenzied giggle shook out of him and he put his hand onto that arm as if to remove it, but once he found it, he didn't move. "Hahaha clumsy..." His free hand flicked on the lights, and he looked at his leader, neither of them moving, Robin's hand still resting on Beastboy's waist underneath the younger boy's hand.

"Um, so, you wanted to, er... play? Some more?" Beastboy asked, swallowing hard. Hearing that, Robin broke their eye contact, and Beastboy let his hand slip away.

"Yeah, well, I just thought, maybe... you did?" Robin replied, giving a little cough.

"Did you bring the bottle?" Beastboy asked.

"Ah, no, I didn't..."

"Right, there's only two of us... Do you want to sit down?" Beastboy only had his desk chair, and his bed, something Robin seemed to notice as well as he knelt and sat on the floor, looking up at Beastboy until he copied him and they sat cross-legged opposite each other.

"Truth or dare?" Beastboy asked, with a nervous giggle. "Unless you want to go first!"

"No, it's okay. Truth," Robin replied.

"Erm..." Beastboy thought of all the things he could ask, like what his real name was, when, why and how he first became a crime-fighter, if he really did have a crush on Starfire... but he didn't want to force his friend to tell him any of those things. He wanted Robin to tell him on his own, because his leader wanted him to know. "Um... What's your favourite colour?" he eventually got out.

"...That's really what you want to know?" Robin asked, sceptical. Beastboy shrugged. "Would you believe me if I said it was green?" he said with a roguish, crooked smile.

"Really?"

The Titan leader took a pinch of his green leggings and let it snap back into place with a simple smile, then turned serious as he looked at the green teen in front of him and said "It's growing on me."

Beastboy squirmed under his gaze. "Maybe you should get a doctor to look at that," he joked without much thought.

Robin groaned. "Beastboy!"

"Sorry."

"Anyway, truth or dare?" Robin resumed, and despite his bad joke, the atmosphere was pretty heavy. He had thought at first that Robin had come to his room for a reason, which was probably still true, and he didn't want to frustrate the older boy now, so he thought about what answer his leader wanted. He'd said that Beastboy hadn't finished his turn, the dare Cyborg had given him. He almost stopped breathing when he thought of what might follow if he allowed that dare to be repeated. But he had to, didn't he?

"Dare," he squeaked.

Robin shifted onto his knees. _Uh-oh._ "Close your eyes," Robin told him. _Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh..._ But he did what he was told, nervously closing his eyes. His pointy ears twitched as he heard the carpet rustle as his leader moved, and he judged by the way he could smell him more intensely now that he had come closer.

Beastboy's heart was jumping all over the place and he wanted to move his hands to distract himself but he was afraid Robin might misinterpret that somehow so he didn't. He just sat still, eyes closed, and tilted his face upwards.

Robin looked at his teammate as he knelt in front of him, wondering just what the _hell_ he was doing. His hands were sweating inside his gloves and it didn't help no matter how many times he rubbed them on his legs. He also felt vaguely sick, but that was just nerves, it definitely wasn't because of the elfish green face in front of him, currently tilted invitingly towards him, pointy ears swivelling and twitching as the boy tried to figure out what was going on without asking. Robin wiped his hands again, but again it didn't help.

What was he _thinking_? All he knew was that his heart had given a little jump when Cyborg had said the word 'kiss' and he was kind of disappointed when the game had ended. He wasn't thinking about what the hell _that_ meant. Instead he had come here on the weak premise of continuing the game, and Beastboy seemed to know exactly what he was about, but could he go through with it? Taking a big breath in an attempt to calm himself and exhaling slowly, he resisted the urge to use his fingers to push Beastboy's chin up further and began bending slowly down towards that green mouth.

Beastboy's eyelids fluttered as he felt Robin's breath ghost across his face. _Holy wow_, he thought to himself, but he refrained from opening his eyes, just in case. Although he did want to see what Robin looked like right now and maybe participate a bit more actively, he didn't want to make it awkward by making eye-contact at the crucial moment.

His lips parted just a fraction and he sensed that Robin was just inches away, and he started to move up towards him...

A knock on the door sent them leaping away from each other.

"Yo, BB! You in there?" It was Cyborg. The two boys stared at each other, panting as if they'd just run a marathon, then Robin looked away guiltily. Beastboy climbed to his feet and answered the door, keeping it half closed, while Robin moved out of sight.

"Hey, Cy, what's up?" Beastboy asked, his hand on his stomach as he tried to calm his heart and fake a normal breathing pattern.

Cyborg looked suspicious but didn't ask. "I just wanted to apologise if I went too far with the dare thing just now," he said.

"Oh, no, no problem," Beastboy reassured him, really just trying to make this quick so that the oldest Titan wouldn't investigate his teammate's strange behaviour any further.

He raised an eyebrow. "You alright?"

"Yeah, sure!" and Beastboy laughed nervously.

"Well, alright, if you say so, man." He turned to go, then turned back. "Maybe we shouldn't play that game again," he said. "It does things to people." Cyborg gave him one last up-and-down, then walked away, his footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Beastboy looked over to Robin, who sat propped against the wall, looking like he needed the rest.

"Maybe I should go," the Boy Wonder said, getting to his feet, and Beastboy couldn't think of anything to stop him. He paused in the open doorway. "Bye," he said, and gave a tentative smile, which Beastboy returned.

After he was gone, Beastboy closed the door, and stared wide-eyed at his floor for several long moments, then climbed into his bed, pulling the covers up to his neck. He grinned like an idiot as he pressed his duvet to his lips.

**Author's Note:** Haha, I'm cruel, aren't I? But we have to save something for later, don't we? Anyway, I'd like to say that I'd still like to hear any ideas you guys might have, I'm pretty sure Truth or Dare was one I didn't come up with myself and there are others that I'm going to take from reviews I've gotten. So, inspire me!


	6. At The Zoo

Chapter 6

Early the next morning, when Beastboy arrived in the common room for breakfast, unbelievably he wasn't thinking about what had happened with Robin the night before. However, when he saw his leader leaning coolly against a kitchen counter, blowing on the mug of coffee in his hand, it all came flooding back. Beastboy flushed dark green and kept his eyes down as he went to fix himself some tofu waffles for breakfast, making sure he didn't stare at the older boy's lips or hands.

He pulled the pack of waffles out of the fridge and moved over to the stove, trying to ignore the way Robin was watching him.

"Beastboy, I was thinking," his leader began, setting his mug on the counter top decisively, turning to face his teammate.

Beastboy looked at him, startled. Robin's tone was completely light-hearted and calm, as if he hadn't tried to kiss the green teen the night before, which Beastboy wasn't sure that he had, but it had seemed that way... _Maybe I just got it wrong_, he thought to himself, _maybe he was doing something else_. It seemed much more likely as the Californian sun painted the room, but that thought made Beastboy feel, well, a little disappointed.

"We should go to the zoo," Robin suggested. It was hard to tell without being able to see the boy's eyes, but Beastboy thought there had been a hopeful, maybe a little nervous note at the end of that sentence.

"The zoo?..." Beastboy repeated, confused. He couldn't see what the zoo had to do with anything. A loud sizzling drew his attention back to his frying waffles and he quickly flipped them. Okay, maybe they were a little blacker than usual, but hey, he needed more carbon in his diet.

"Yeah, it might be... a good training exercise for you."

Beastboy was a little offended at that, as if he couldn't already do everything the animals in the zoo could do, but the way his leader was smiling at him made him suspect that he was missing something.

"You think so?" Beastboy replied uncertainly.

"You don't? It'll be fun," Robin insisted. Beastboy noticed that Robin had turned his back on the others to just face him, and Beastboy couldn't see past him. His heart pumped a little faster at the privacy.

"I can already do all the animals in the zoo, Robin," Beastboy objected weakly. His leader's smile didn't leave much room for argument.

"But I mean," the older boy took a step forward and turned into the counter so that their arms were almost touching. "It'll be fun," he repeated.

Beastboy poked his waffles around the pan. "Are the others going?"

"They don't have to."

Robin was still smiling but Beastboy kind of wished he would stop. Why was he being punished like this, sent to the _zoo_ of all places for extra training? He hadn't done anything wrong, he hadn't messed up in any fights recently. If Robin thought he needed it, he couldn't refuse, but he couldn't bring himself to act excited either.

When his youngest teammate didn't reply, Robin took a step away, as if their business was finished. "Okay," he said, with a tone of conclusion. "We can go on my bike. If we leave after breakfast, there'll be fewer people, and we can get back before dinner."

Beastboy dished up his waffles like it was his last meal. He didn't know what the brunette was so excited about. He was dreading it already.

000

Beastboy stood on the harsh concrete of the Tower's garage, his face long as Robin mounted his black motorcycle_. Guess we're being unofficial today,_ Beastboy thought,though they were still wearing their uniforms._ Guess there's no point trying to deny the green kid is _that_ green kid. _

The garage was cold, dark and vast, large enough to shelter spaceships and submarines. Normally, the green teen would have been stoked to be riding Robin's bike, but it still felt like a punishment, like Robin was going to take him to the dentist or something.

"Are you okay? You look a little..." Robin asked him as he passed his teammate a helmet. Beastboy put it on then swung his leg over behind Robin.

"I'm okay," he mumbled, his answer muffled by the helmet. Robin put on his own, red with a black visor, very stylish in Beastboy's eyes.

"Okay, well, hold on tight," Robin replied, and Beastboy could just about make it out before Robin kicked the throttle and they set off.

They weren't going very fast, they were just leaving the garage, but Beastboy had never experienced feeling the air breeze past his skin without having his feet on the floor, or feathers, and he got scared. He grabbed Robin's waist and tucked himself against his leader's back. What was holding the bike up anyway? As they gained speed once they were out of the tower, it only got worse. The world roared around them as they passed other cars, and the vibrations of the bike did not help. He knew Robin knew what he was doing, but it still felt like tempting fate. He just shut his eyes and hoped it would be over soon.

Eventually, he felt the bike slow down and he opened his eyes. They were in the zoo parking lot, and Robin parked the bike close to the entrance. The older boy put his feet on the ground and kicked out the stand, but then he noticed his young teammate wasn't letting go.

"Beastboy, we're here," he said, straightening up and looking behind him. He pulled off his helmet to see the boy better.

"Oh... right..." Beastboy reluctantly prised his fingers out of Robin's tunic and put his feet on the ground, certain the bike could yet throw him off. He stiffly got off, standing to the side to take off his helmet and hand it back to Robin. As soon as his nose was free, the musky smell of animals hit him and his stomach sank. He hated zoos.

Robin threaded the helmets onto a chain which he used to lock up the bike, then stood up. He hadn't lost his enthusiasm. "Come on," he said, smiling, and he grabbed Beastboy's hand to pull him forward. They weren't 'holding hands,' Robin's palm was flat against the back of Beastboy's hand, his fingers wrapped around the wrist. Beastboy followed obediently, ready to get this over with.

There was no line as it was still the morning and most kids were still at school. Robin tried to pay for them but the woman waved them on, one of the perks of saving the city so many times.

"So where do you wanna go first?" Robin asked, unfolding one of the maps that he'd grabbed from the entrance.

Beastboy looked at him. Robin had come here without a plan? That was unusual.

"I dunno, where did you want to go?" he replied, looking over his leader's shoulder to see how bad this visit was going to be. They had lions, tigers, elephants, wolves. Great. Beastboy was already breathing through his mouth and trying to ignore the various calls he could hear. So many animals in one place, especially big predators, made him nervous.

"Why don't we just follow the path, and stop if we see anything?" Robin said, cheerfully folding the map back up. Behind him, Beastboy could see an old couple pointing and whispering. Robin at least should have worn civilian clothes, and maybe Beastboy could have worn a hat or something.

As they walked along, Beastboy waited for the commands of, "There, see if you can do that one," but they never came. Instead Robin walked leisurely along the barrier, looking down into the various enclosures, confusing and frustrating Beastboy more and more every minute. If they were here for training, they should just get on with it and then go home, that was what Beastboy wanted.

Zoos weren't interesting for Beastboy, in fact, they were horrible. The smells of so many different animals from so many different places all mixing together into one confusing, unnatural cloud peppered with the scent of adult males made Beastboy feel threatened and aggravated. The sounds of all their calls, the random, nonsensical calls of birds that sing just to pass the time, and the lonely shrieks of exotic species calling for family they would never see again, or mates that would only ever come to them in a crate. The larger animals were too bored and listless to make noise, only huffing sometimes as if making noise was more of an involuntary twitch than anything else. And the sight of them, fences and cages and nets everywhere he looked, housing a handful of a species that had been given a dust pile and a tire to play with when they should have been roaming free over hundreds of miles of expansive savannah or jungle. It made Beastboy's heart break.

Plus, a place like this really made him feel what he was. He stayed in the middle of the path because while his smell confused a lot of the animals, if they could see him they would try to chase him away. _Get away, freak,_ is what they told him. _What the hell _are_ you?_ And the animals weren't the only ones confused. Other visitors glanced at him out of the corner of their eyes while he kept his pointy ears tucked close to his head and his lips pulled tight over his sharp teeth. Little kids laughed, maybe because they recognised him off the TV, and that was okay, he supposed. Little kids were harmless. He was just glad that there weren't many people there that day, and wished the others had come. He felt safer next to Cyborg, who stood out just as much as he did.

And at the back of his mind was a tiny voice that told him that this was where a freak like him really belonged, and he should just give up trying to act normal.

So whenever Robin would call him over to look at something in particular, like an antelope scratching itself with a long horn, he would dutifully go over, make some interested noises, then retreat back to a safe distance. Why had Robin brought him here? If they didn't get down to training soon, they were going to run out of zoo.

They passed a vendor selling snacks and Robin came up to him. The smile was gone from his face. "Do you want something to eat?" he asked, his mask of enthusiasm wearing thin.

Beastboy looked over at the little cart. He didn't want to miss lunch entirely and he was a little hungry. A sign on the cart advertised hotdogs, and the little vegetarian voice inside him asked _How can they sell that in a zoo? _but he ignored it. Usually he was fine with other people eating meat, but the day was bringing his frustrations closer to the surface. It was too cold for ice cream however, so he picked the next best veggie option.

"Maybe just some nuts," he replied. They did smell good.

Robin grinned like he'd just been given a second chance. "Okay," he said. "I'll be right back."

Beastboy opened his mouth to stop him, but let him go. He wasn't comfortable letting his leader pay for him, but when he thought about it, he wasn't sure he had any change anyway, and it was only a bag of roasted nuts. That was like, what? A dollar?

Robin returned and handed him a hot paper bag full of sweet roasted peanuts, and a can of Coke. For himself, the Boy Wonder had a waffle with whipped cream on it, and Beastboy wondered if the teen had deliberately avoided meat for his sake.

"Let's sit down," Robin said, gesturing to a bench behind them. It was mild that morning, but it was still summer, and warm enough to eat outside, not that they had anywhere else to go.

For moment, they sat in silence, each tucking in to their respective finger food.

"Nice?" Robin asked, a little cream on his lip.

Beastboy nodded as he swallowed and held the bag out to his friend. "Want some?"

Robin took one and tossed it into his mouth, crunching it thoughtfully.

"Are you okay today?" he asked softly, looking at his teammate.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Beastboy replied, looking down at his bag and digging out some more peanuts.

"It's just... You don't really seem to be enjoying yourself very much..."

Beastboy shrugged. "It's okay, just zoos, you know," he replied cryptically, not really wanting to get into it.

"Zoos what?" Robin asked, leaning down, trying to catch his eyes.

"They just kinda give me the creeps," Beastboy said, trying to sound non-chalant, balling up his now-empty paper bag and aiming it at a nearby bin. He missed, but luckily it bounced off the tree behind it so he didn't have to get up.

"What? You didn't tell me that!" Robin sounded hurt, which made Beastboy look at him in surprise.

"What difference does it make?" he asked, but what he was thinking was _Why do you care?_

"I never would have brought you here if I'd known that!" Robin explained. "Why didn't you say anything back at the Tower?"

"You wanted to train! I thought you had some reason for coming here!" Beastboy argued back.

Robin's shoulders dropped. "Beastboy, we're not really going to train, I just said that so the others wouldn't get suspicious."

"Suspicious of what?"

"Of, you know... Us, going off alone together..." The Boy Wonder's voice was quiet and uncertain, and Beastboy thought a pink tinge was lining the edge of his mask where it lay on his cheeks.

"If you didn't want to train, then why _did_ you want to bring me here?" Beastboy asked. He didn't know what was going on, but he was beginning to feel that once it became clear he would either be very pissed off, or very happy.

Now Robin looked away, and the pink tinge darkened. "I, I just wanted to - I thought you would like the zoo!"

"Why?" Beastboy demanded harshly. "Because I would be with my own kind?"

Robin flinched and the eyes of his mask grew large. "Beastboy... No..." he breathed, but the green teen wasn't convinced. He knew that was what Robin had thought. _He must like animals; he's practically one himself!_

"Robin, I'm trying to be human, I _want_ to be human. I like human things like going to the movies and playing video games and eating pizza. I don't want to come here and roll around in the dirt anymore than you do," Beastboy explained, softening his voice because he knew his words were hard. "I thought you didn't see me like everyone else, I thought you were different."

He stood up to leave, fly back to the Tower or something, but Robin grabbed his wrist and held him back. The look on his face was close to desperate. "I am! I mean, I do! I want to..." The Boy Wonder pulled the green teen back down onto the bench beside him without letting go of his hand, and Beastboy allowed it. "I'm sorry, Beastboy, I guess I don't know as much about you as I thought I did," he said, promising to himself to talk to the boy more and forget what it said in his files.

Beastboy sighed. "It's okay..." he said, forgiving his leader. Of course, he would forgive him, how could he not?

"The truth is... I just wanted to be alone with you, so we could talk about last night..."

As far as Beastboy could tell, Robin was serious. He turned towards his leader, wanting to talk and find out what was really going on, but just at that point screams reached them from down the path. Both heroes instantly looked up, forgetting their personal business so that they could help someone in danger.

Running towards the screams, they saw a small group of people gathered by a fence overlooking a pit holding the animals. A woman was trying awkwardly to climb under the fence to get in.

"Ma'am, no!" Robin cried.

She looked up and her face was a mix of relief and determination. She was glad they were there, but she was still prepared to do the job herself. "Oh, help! My daughter fell inside! Please!"

The crowded stood back to let them through, and the boys read the sign on the fence.

DANGER: WILD ANIMALS

Robin pulled the woman to her feet while spotting the toddler at the bottom of the pit. It wasn't far enough that she would have hurt herself, but the wall was sheer and there was no way anything could climb out of there. There were no animals in sight, but a shadow marked the entrance to their lairs built inside a hill. The little girl was crying, and it wouldn't be long until whatever was down there noticed.

"Don't worry, Ma'am, I've got her," Robin reassured the woman who was now on her feet. He flipped into the enclosure to a chorus of approving gasps from the crowd.

Beastboy leant over the edge, ready to help. He tried to identify the smell of the animal living there, but the air was full of all different scents, and it was hard to pick out. He watched as Robin shushed the girl, moving to pick her up, but the girl wailed harder and turned away from him. Robin had her cornered, so he knew that if she ran, it would only be towards the animal's home. He had to be careful.

There was another gasp and muted screams from the crowd, and both boys looked towards the hill. A lion had wandered outside to investigate, and it didn't look happy. It raised its lip and a growl snaked through its teeth.

Now in a hurry, Robin turned back to the little girl, but she shrieked "No!" and dodged to the side. When Beastboy saw his leader with his back to the lion, which was stepping gradually closer, he knew what he had to do.

Jumping into the ring and landing in a crouch, Beastboy placed himself between Robin and the lion, which skittered back in surprise before lowering its head and snarling more viciously than before. If it attacked while Beastboy was in human form, it would eat him whole.

"Beastboy!"

"Get the girl!"

And with that, the green teen morphed into a lion and prepared to face down the one in front of him. A lioness was sticking her head outside to watch, but there was a chance she wouldn't interfere. Beastboy might smell funny, but hopefully she would see this as a battle for dominance, and stay out of it.

Beastboy made eye contact with the predator in front of him, raising his lips and snarling, bunching his shoulders and flexing his claws. It felt good in a way, to fight like this. He was already seeing this as a battle for dominance himself, protecting what was important to him, facing down a lesser opponent.

He heard the hiss and clank of Robin's grappling hook and the lion lunged, knocking Beastboy onto his back. He rolled and threw the lion against the wall with a dull thud. It shook itself off and they both got to their feet, circling.

"Beastboy! Get out of there!" Robin yelled from amongst the crowd in front of them, but the youngest Titan wasn't finished venting his frustration yet. If Robin wanted an animal, he'd give him one.

With a snarl, Beastboy dove for the lion's throat, getting a mouthful of mane as claws swiped at his chest. He didn't let go though, shaking the lion's head furiously.

"Beastboy, we're safe now! Stop!"

The lion finally got away from Beastboy, sending him spinning away. As he faced the wall briefly, he saw Robin at the top, leaning hard against the railing, shouting down at him, panicked. But behind him, he saw a crowd of people, a mother with her child in her arms, looking down at him with little more than morbid curiosity. Would the green one kill the yellow one, they wondered, or would the green one die instead? They were watching animals fight, that was all. They didn't see a hero risking his life, they just saw animals fighting. Unfortunate, but the natural world is cruel, circle of life and so on.

Looking up at them looking down at him, Beastboy felt like he really was an animal on display in a zoo.

The lion leapt and tackled him from behind, but Beastboy escaped as a rat, then flew to the top as a crow. He morphed back to human form once on the path, and the crowd gasped in wonder. How magical.

Robin fought his way past them to rush to his friend.

"Beastboy, are you alright?" he asked, his face ashen.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright. Is she okay?" He nodded towards the girl clinging to her mother's chest.

"Yes... Thank you!" The mother's thanks were sincere enough, but Beastboy still felt hollow. He wouldn't forget how it felt to be in that pit for a long time.

"Come on, let's get out of here, this was a bad idea," Robin murmured to him, directing him to the exit.

When they stood alone by the bike again, Beastboy looked down at his leader as he unlocked the chain.

"We don't have to go home yet. It's still early," he said.

Robin stood up and faced him, a little wary. "Where do you want to go?" he asked, uncertain because he didn't want to make any more judgements on what his teammate might or might not enjoy.

Beastboy shrugged. "We could just go and hang out at the arcade?"

"What arcade?"

Beastboy smiled. "I go there all the time, I know some guys there. It's next to Pizza Palace," he said. The thought of repetitively shooting or beating up bad guys just by hammering a few buttons sounded good, and he like the flashing lights and loud noises. Plus, there was a comic book store nearby that might have a new issue of _Captain Awesome_ or a copy of _High School Mud Terror VI_.

Robin smiled tentatively, "Okay," he agreed. While it didn't sound exactly like his idea of a good time, he wanted to see Beastboy having a good time. He wanted to learn what the boy liked so that he wouldn't make a stupid mistake like the zoo again. He never wanted to hurt his friend's feelings again, but knowing him, it might be inevitable. But Robin was just lucky that Beastboy liked him enough to forgive him.


	7. Captain Awesome

Chapter 7

Once again, the Titans were taking a much deserved rest in the common room, playing the usual video games and eating the usual junk food. The past few days had been taken up by a plot and subsequent battle against Killer Moth, and now they were taking the welcome opportunity to decompress. Raven was meditating in the far corner as usual – Robin suspected she didn't like being alone as much as she pretended – while Starfire floated reading an incomprehensible book on some strange topic to do with botany. Robin would only have read such a thing under extreme duress, like if Batman decided he needed to, but she seemed to find it fascinating, frequently giggling to herself. Robin decided not to question it - it would help her with her English at the very least.

The leader of the Titans was sitting in an armchair, watching Beastboy and Cyborg play. Or more specifically, he was watching Beastboy. His eyes were fixed on the green teen, his glove hiding the small smile that had fixed on his face. His youngest teammate was so involved in the game that he had no idea he was being watched, and Robin didn't think he'd ever seen Beastboy that focused on anything else. The boy was leaning forward on the couch, the tip of a red tongue a small splotch of colour on his face as it stuck out of the corner of his mouth to the side of a jagged white tooth. He cheered and gasped in victory, chanting "Yes, yes,yes!" when he got ahead, and moaned and cried in defeat when he fell behind. Robin had never known anybody who felt their emotions so strongly, and showed them so openly, unashamed. It was charming and cute and endearing. His smile flickered wider behind his glove.

So maybe his big zoo plan hadn't worked how he had wanted it too, but there was no sign that Beastboy held it against him. Two minutes in that arcade and it was like it had never happened. They had played co-op on various shooting-zombies/aliens/bugs games, and versus each other on a couple of fight simulators. Beastboy's vastly superior experience with the joystick and button controls meant he won most of the time, ripping Robin's spine out or kicking his head into the atmosphere in blocky pixelated graphics. Robin had been surprised to be losing so easily at first, but that just brought out his competitive side, and they were soon immersed in the games, battling furiously but without any real animosity.

Robin had seen Beastboy's name in the high score list on several machines, and the guy at the window had engaged the youngest Titan in small talk as they exchanged dollars for quarters, smiling at Robin. Beastboy had known the man's name and they seemed friendly, surprising Robin, who hadn't realised Beastboy was a member of a totally separate social circle.

Once they had spent as much as they were willing to, the boys had left the arcade and gone next door to a comic book store. There too, Beastboy was greeted cheerfully and he spent a few moments catching up with the owner behind the counter, asking about new issues of this or that. Robin browsed the shelves, not really caring about comic books himself. He didn't want to get too mixed up in fantasy, when believing that the good guy would always win regardless could get him killed. In the reality of what they did, he couldn't afford to kid himself. Besides, he doubted that Bruce would have approved.

He saw covers featuring Tarzan characters crouching next to various wild predators, beautiful women in tight skimpy outfits, flashes of colourful energy bursts, nerdy secret identities, and attempts at artistic black and white scribbles. He wondered which ones Beastboy liked and why. He glanced at the green teen, who was flicking through a cardboard box curiously, and wondered why his own crime-fighting life wasn't enough. Beastboy picked up a magazine and flicked through before putting it back, leaving Robin to contemplate the noble superhuman on the front. Was that what Beastboy liked?

By the time they left, it was two or three in the afternoon, around the time Robin had told himself they would be back at the Tower. But their communicators had been silent all day, and while the responsible leader in him was itching to get back, Beastboy seemed so happy and carefree buried in fantasy and black and white morality that it felt cruel to drag him away to the real world. So they got milkshakes instead and Robin decided the real world could wait an extra ten or fifteen minutes.

Upon their arrival back at the Tower however, Robin was immediately confronted by Raven.

"The manager of the zoo wants to talk to you," she croaked as if she couldn't care less, but with the tiniest flavour of curiosity in her voice. "He keeps calling."

Beastboy looked at Robin, worry clear on his face.

"I'll handle it," Robin said, stepping past them to make the call. He could guess what the man wanted, but he wasn't going to let Beastboy talk to him. His teammate had only been trying to help and protect both his leader and a little girl, and Robin wasn't about to let anybody make him feel bad about that.

But Beastboy had lingered behind Robin while he was on the phone, the concerned expression twisting his normally smooth face. Robin had told him not to worry, that he would handle it, that he didn't have to listen, but the boy never left, so Robin's attempt to protect him was somewhat moot. He also felt strangely uncomfortable about being overheard when he said some of the things he had to say to defend his teammate, but he said them regardless because they were true. Beastboy _had_ been brave and heroic, and he hadn't done anything wrong, and the lion at the zoo hadn't been seriously hurt so the zoo manager could go stuff himself as far as Robin was concerned. In the end, the man was satisfied with a promise that the Titans would make a publicity appearance at his zoo, but Robin kept the details deliberately vague, and he certainly didn't give a date, so by the time he hung up he felt like he'd successfully brushed the man off.

He exhaled heavily, trying to get rid of the frustration that was brewing in his chest before looking at Beastboy, who didn't look reassured. Robin felt angry all over again that his teammate's delicate good mood had been ruined once again when he'd just got it back.

"Come on," Robin said with a cheery smile, stepping forward and putting his arm around the green teen. "Let's go see if Cyborg's got past that level on _Zombie Splatter Force III _yet."

That had been the day before Killer Moth had made his fluffy presence known and pushed the issue out of all their minds. Now that they had some down time again, Robin's mind tracked back to his idiot mistake with the zoo. It had blown up in his face, but he should have known better. Everything Beastboy had said had been fair. But the question now was, what next, how to make it up to the boy and get back on the right track? The trip to the zoo hadn't accomplished what Robin had had in mind, but it hadn't completely derailed the two of them either, so their relationship wasn't irretrievable.

Robin's smile shrunk behind his hand as he became thoughtful. First, he would think of something else to do with Beastboy, and only then would he think about _why_ he wanted to do something with him.

He had had plausible deniability – to himself at least – until he had gone to Beastboy's room with the brilliant idea of a private game of Truth or Dare. Granted, Beastboy had faithfully kept his eyes closed, so if Robin chose to abandon the whole thing, he could probably get away with it. But something always brought him back to the _But what if?..._ and that was the fact that Beastboy _had_ closed his eyes, and he had tilted his face up so adorably, innocent yet wanting, waiting for Robin's kiss as if he _knew_...

Robin could dismiss a lot of things as his teammate just being innocent and young and friendly, unsuspecting and maybe a little awkward, but the masked boy couldn't pretend Beastboy was _that_ clueless, clueless enough to tilt his face towards another boy in a private game of Truth or Dare. From that, the young detective could only deduce – tentatively, hopefully, disbelievingly – that Beastboy, well, that Beastboy liked him... like that. Liked him back.

And even if that was wrong, even if that was _so wrong_, the indelible image of the green teen, sitting torturously calm, waiting patiently and yet _im_patiently, lips summoning Robin closer, made the older boy want to believe he was right. He wanted to complete what he had started, he wanted to give his kiss to Beastboy - he wanted to know how the elf's lips felt, whether he would be able to feel his long canines when Robin pressed his lips to them, if the boy tasted like apples or limes like a green candy, or just like tofu, and whether or not tofu tasted better when Robin was tasting it off Beastboy's lips. Or maybe the boy tasted of something else altogether, like the earth, like Africa, like the sea, like the jungle. God, Robin wanted to _know_. His friend was a puzzle, and those lips were torturing Robin; he wouldn't be satisfied until he knew the answer.

But there were other teases too. What sound would the green teen make? _Could_ Robin make him make a sound, or would the boy be unimpressed, disappointed, and remain quietly bored with the whole thing. But Robin expected a squeak of surprise at the very least, even if a moan might be asking a bit much. He would try though, no harm in trying. And would the boy feel as skinny as he looked? Would he be light and bony when Robin pulled him close, would Robin be able to count his ribs? Would he be sharp and angular and cause Robin pain all down his body where they touched? Even that was a sweet mystery Robin wanted the answer to. He didn't mind if it felt like lying down on a bed of rocks and glass if he just got to lie down on Beastboy. He didn't mind if it felt like being grinded by a bag of wooden blocks and knives as long as he got grinded on by Beastboy.

Robin shifted in his chair as he realised exactly what he was thinking. He didn't want to be thinking those things, not in the common room with his team all around him, when any of them, including Beastboy, could glance at him and maybe see what he was feeling written all over his face. His mask helped, but he couldn't be careless. He also didn't want to be selfish – maybe _he_ wanted these things, but maybe Beastboy didn't. Maybe he did, but maybe he didn't, and he couldn't just trap the boy alone somewhere and find out the answers to all his questions. Maybe he thought Beastboy liked him, but maybe it was just curiosity born of admiration. He knew Beastboy liked to put him on a pedestal, and so he had to be clear on what Beastboy wanted – _actually_ wanted, for himself – before he tried to discover anything.

But in the meantime, he wanted to spend more time with Beastboy, alone. He had realised that there was more to the boy than what Robin thought he knew, and he wanted to fix that. He had grown arrogant with his little files, and now he realised how wrong he had been. So he wanted to learn about the green teen from the boy himself.

...But that was kind of an excuse. He wanted to take Beastboy to interesting places, he wanted him to have a good time, and Robin wanted to be there to watch. He wanted Beastboy's happiness to be his doing. So he wanted to take him places, and buy him nice things to eat, and not get it as wincingly wrong as he had done at the zoo. But these little excursions he was planning raised another issue. He could get what he wanted, maybe help it along a little, if he tried. Maybe. The question was, would he _try_ to _seduce_ Beastboy? Should he? Could he? They were teammates after all, this kind of relationship was dangerous to that. If it didn't work out, the team could fall apart, and they all needed each other just as much as Jump City needed them. Secondly, they were both guys. He might think Beastboy liked him, but if he was misreading that, then how would he ever redeem himself? If the green teen turned around and looked at him like he was a complete weirdo, maybe got scared of him even, then the Titans might really be over.

Then, Robin had never seduced anyone before. Or maybe that was a bad choice of words, maybe 'come on to' would be better. But he'd never done that either. Back in Gotham, in school, there had been girls who'd flirted, or he assumed that was what they were doing, but he wasn't interested. He was too busy fighting crime and all that. But Robin knew right away that he would never be able to do what they did. He didn't have hair to flick or twirl round his finger, and batting his eyelashes would be fairly redundant what with his mask and all. When he imagined himself giggling like them, he shuddered. Even he couldn't stand it. So what could he do? He had paid absolutely rock bottom zero attention to how the other male students had acted around girls they liked, so he couldn't summon a single memory of a guy hitting on a girl to copy, and besides, Beastboy wasn't a girl. The best he could do was be nice, be interested, and maybe put his hand on Beastboy's shoulder or something. Robin's heart sank; that didn't seem like a very effective strategy.

But the mechanics aside, _should_ he try to get Beastboy to allow him to find the answers to his questions, taste his lips and all that? Once would be enough for Robin, one kiss, one embrace to measure the dimensions and sensations of the elf. If he could satisfy his curiosity in one go, then he could walk away, interest tamed. But Robin instinctively knew how cruel that would be. If Beastboy wanted to do that stuff with him, then the scientific approach would break his heart, and then Robin didn't care what happened to the team, Beastboy's teary-eyed, hurt expression would exact revenge and break Robin's heart right back. But what would not walking away mean? Staying together? What was that, becoming a couple? What was _that_?

It seemed like the best thing was to not even start, but when it came to Beastboy, he knew what he felt, and he wanted to know, he wanted to _know_, _he wanted to know_.

Cyborg finally got bored of beating Beastboy and stood up to turn the console off. The TV came on instead and Beastboy almost shrieked when he recognised what was on and scrambled clumsily across the table to sit closer, rocking in place.

"_Captain Awesome!_ I forgot this was on! We almost missed it!" he cried.

Robin turned to look at the opening theme of some superhero show. It was live action and looked like it had incredibly low production values, requiring more suspension of disbelief and imagination from the audience to smooth it over than most. The main character was a man with broad shoulders and dressed in spandex and a cape but no mask. Robin could tell he wasn't nearly muscled enough to be a crime fighter, but his frame was large enough and that seemed to be good enough for the producers. He struck overly dramatic heroic poses and Robin could just tell he would be advising kids to stay in school and say no to drugs between dispensing cheesy one-liners foretelling a villain's doom.

Robin changed his focus to the green teen vibrating with glee on the floor two or three feet from the screen. His mouth was still open in a grin so wide Robin thought his tongue would fall out, and his eyes were shining with tiny reflections of the flashing screen. He seemed to love this show, but Robin had never heard of it, and he hadn't known Beastboy was such a fan. He decided he should watch it, so that maybe he could talk to the boy about it later.

Cyborg, however, groaned. "That show sucks! It looks like it was made in somebody's basement!" he said.

"No, it doesn't! It's awesome!" Beastboy countered.

Cyborg didn't say anything more, giving up in the face of Beastboy's rabid worship. Robin kept watching the show, and it just got worse and worse as it went on. The man's secret identity was a reporter who was supposed to be so nerdy and meek that no one would realise he was actually Captain Awesome, but all he did was put on a suit and a pair of glasses. He also had a female co-worker who was constantly throwing herself at him while he agonised over how they couldn't be together because he wasn't who she thought he was and she'd always be in danger etc etc. When it came to the action, a giant rubber monster attacked the city at the bidding of a cackling grotesque, a man with a comically enlarged brain and a hunchback. Captain Awesome changed into his uniform by spinning on the spot at super speed with a blur of colour, and gave predictable challenges like "Hate will never triumph over justice!" The effects looked more like firecrackers and electrical sparks than real explosions, and the "earthquakes" were just the camera being shaken while the actors ran from side to side.

Robin kept looking at Beastboy to check if the boy was really serious in watching this, but the child-like adoration never left the boy's face, and the green teen even went so far at times as to clasp his hands together in front of him in wonder, gasp and cover his mouth, or shake his fist while mouthing along with the catchphrases. Robin was mystified. The only attraction the show had came from the fact that you couldn't believe it was really that bad. It was like watching a play in which no one knew the lines - you watched to see how much worse it could get.

When Captain Awesome, or more likely his stunt double, delivered a flying kick to the rubber terror, he flew about a hundred feet at five miles an hour, defying the laws of physics, but not the way most superhumans defy the laws of physics. His cape was boxy and pinched where the wires held the man, but it worked for Beastboy though, because he remained riveted and sighed, "He's so cooooool."

By the time the end credits came up, and Beastboy was bouncing from side to side with the theme, Robin was feeling more than a little annoyed. Captain Awesome was clearly an idiot. He had no positive traits that the Boy Wonder could see. His name was stupid, his uniform was stupid, his secret identity was stupid, and his catchphrase was stupid! Plus, he was way too old for Beastboy! He had to be more than twice the youngest Titan's age.

As the ads came on, Beastboy stood up and began leaping around the room, striking the same overly dramatic poses and delivering the same cheesy one-liners.

"He's so coooool! He's like...like... awesome! He can do _anything_!" the boy gushed.

Robin felt a cruel need to bring him down. "I don't see what's so great about him," he growled.

"I do! He's super-strong! And super-fast! And he has x-ray vision that can see through anything!"

Robin, well-aware that he had none of those things, that he was, in fact, the only member of the team without powers of any kind, did not take kindly to that defence. "He's not real, he's just an actor, and a bad one at that."

"I know he's an actor, but he's not bad! And in the comic books he's cool too!"

"Beastboy, he's an idiot. He has no idea what it takes to be a hero. If he did what I do, he'd be dead in five minutes. That show is for stupid little kids," Robin insisted, wanting to chase Beastboy's admiration for the character right out of his green body.

Beastboy finally seemed to register his leader's tone of voice, and he stilled. He dropped his arms and stood meekly, looking at Robin, all the excitement drained out of him. His expression was hurt, and Robin suddenly realised that the other Titans were watching him as well. He'd gone too far, he should just have allowed his young teammate to enjoy his TV show, but for some reason he couldn't let it go. He could see himself spinning off the rails, but he couldn't stop himself.

"I like him," Beastboy said, his voice weak, so that he almost did sound like a child. "I think he's cool, I think he could do what we do. He could do it better!"

Robin pushed himself out of his chair. "You're deluding yourself," he accused. He tried to take himself out of the room, because he could feel the terrible words bubbling up his throat and he didn't want to say them, but he couldn't cross the room fast enough, and he knew Beastboy heard him when he said "When are you going to grow up?"

Starfire gasped, but Robin didn't turn around. He knew that if he did, he would immediately fall to the ground and beg for forgiveness. The hurt expression that he knew was on Beastboy's face would destroy him. Why did he say those things? Why? But he couldn't take them back, not in front of everybody, not yet.

He made it out of the common room and stormed along the corridors to his bedroom, taking the stairs instead of the elevator because he wanted to punish himself. In his room, a very small part of him wanted to lie down on his bed and cry, but he just paced. He couldn't settle to anything, so he just whirled around his bedroom between his desk and his closet, wishing he was less tidy so that he could kick his junk around the floor. He knew he had hurt Beastboy, he knew he was totally in the wrong, but he didn't know how to apologise. Should he do it now, or wait until later? Should he go to the boy's bedroom, or just go straight back to the common room and hope he was still there? If he was still in the common room, he wouldn't be able to do it; he wouldn't be able to admit he was wrong in front of his whole team. He wouldn't be able to say what had made him do it; they wouldn't understand that he had been jealous, watching his young teammate fanboy over someone else. How could he tell them that he wanted to be Beastboy's favourite?

There was a knock at his door and he lunged for it. "B-?"

Cyborg stood in the hall, his thick metal arms folded across his chest, his face unforgiving and disappointed. "You need to apologise," he stated in his deep, commanding voice, and for the first time in a long time, Robin felt the age difference between them. He felt like a child in front of his father. "But I'm not letting you near him until I can trust you not to make things worse."

Robin swallowed. "Where is he?"

"He's in his room. You really hurt his feelings," Cyborg told him.

"I know, Cy..."

"You didn't have to say that stuff. Even I don't go that far."

"I know, Cy! I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!" Robin cried, almost begging to be understood.

Cyborg considered him, measuring his sincerity, until finally he nodded, his arms falling by his sides. "Tell him that," he said, and he stood to the side so that Robin could get by.

A few moments later, Beastboy called "Who is it?" when Robin knocked on his door, his voice quiet and depressed.

"It's me... Robin..." The door slid open until Beastboy's face was visible in the gap. The green teen looked up at his leader, and Robin couldn't tell if he'd been crying or not. His heart twisted in his chest. "Can I come in?"

Beastboy stepped away from the door and it opened fully. The youngest Titan walked over to his bed and sat down, looking at his hands rather than at Robin, who followed, feeling like scum.

"Beastboy, I'm so sor-"

"I know it's just a kid's show. I know that," the sweet little elf said, making Robin want to punch himself in the face. He itched to put his around him, but the Boy Wonder didn't feel like he deserved to touch the younger boy.

"Beastboy, it's okay, I was being an ass. The show is fine. You should watch it if you like it. I came here to apologise, I never meant to say those things to you," Robin told him, and it was surprisingly easy to tell the boy the truth of how he felt, much easier than it had been to hurt him.

The green teen lifted his eyes to his and shifted his feet a little. "Really?"

"Of course. I've never wanted to hurt you like that," Robin told him. An idea was growing in his mind, snowballing the longer he ignored it. If Beastboy forgave him, maybe he could tell him how he felt. They were alone here, after all.

"Can I show you something?" Beastboy asked, his voice quiet and unsteady, as raspy and high-pitched as always, but now it was a sound that pulled on something inside Robin.

"Yeah," Robin said, since the boy didn't look like he would move until he had permission.

Beastboy pushed himself onto the floor, kneeling by his bed and reaching underneath. He pulled out several dusty comic books and held them against his chest until he was seated next to Robin again. When he lowered them into his lap, so that Robin could see the covers, the Boy Wonder's eyes widened. He reached for the first one, and Beastboy let him take it.

"Where did you get these?" Robin breathed, amazed as he looked down at _The Adventures of_ _Batman and Robin_, with a drawing of the Caped Crusader and himself swinging into action on the cover.

"I found them while I was with the Doom Patrol... I don't read them anymore! I mean, I don't _buy_ them anymore! They're still cool," Beastboy said, obviously worried about offending him, though he needn't have been.

As Robin flicked through the book, his first reaction was fear. This was dangerous! Their secret identities had been compromised! Did Bruce know about these? Should Robin tell him?

But as he paid more attention, he noticed that the scenes depicting their lives out of uniform were completely off. The characters in the comic were father and son, named Dean and, unoriginally, Robin Batte. There was no billionaire, no circus, no butler, and everything they did as heroes had really happened, and was most likely copied off news broadcasts. The Batman was much more gung ho and optimistic than the real one that Robin knew, while his own characterisation was pretty close to reality. He remembered saying some of the plucky side-kick phrases copied in the book. It seemed that the comic had been made by copying what was publicly accessible, while their private lives were completely fabricated. Robin relaxed a little.

"Um..." Beastboy began carefully. "Your name's not really Robin, is it?" He sounded both hopeful and disappointed, like he thought he finally knew his leader's real name, but knew that wouldn't be the case and was disappointed his comic book hero was a lie.

"No, it's not," Robin answered, still flicking through the pages in front of him. His life had been given the comic book treatment, everything was bright and colourful, and the only pain present was there to forward the plot and was easily overcome.

"I didn't think so," Beastboy replied, pulling his feet up and wrapping his arms around his legs.

"Beastboy... Why are you showing me this?" Robin asked in wonder, finally pulling his eyes away from the comic book.

Beastboy shrugged. "Because, I like Captain Awesome, but I..." He turned his mouth into his knees and the rest of his words were muffled and incomprehensible. His cheeks were dark green.

After this revelation, Robin felt even more driven to be honest with the green teen. He turned to face him more directly. "Beastboy, I only said those things because I was jealous. You used to look at me the way you look at Captain Awesome, and I guess I just got... annoyed," he explained.

Beastboy was staring at him, wide-eyed over his knees, the rest of his face hidden. Robin wanted to pull his head up, so that he could see that mouth, but Beastboy did it for him, freeing his mouth to speak. "You were jealous?"

Robin shrugged, still waiting for a reaction.

"Captain Awesome is cool, but..." Beastboy started before taking a big breath as if starting a new train of thought. "I like Captain Awesome. He always wins, he always knows how to do the right thing, and he never gets hurt. We're different. I know that... you can get hurt. I don't like thinking about you in big fights anymore." He gently took the comic from Robin's lap and looked at the cover before laying it on top of the pile. "Captain Awesome is cool, but..." He resumed his former position with his mouth buried in his legs, and this time Robin knew to listen carefully if he wanted to hear what came next. "...You've always been my favourite."

Robin's heart gave a painful twang and his mouth fell open a little. His hands went up to pull Beastboy to him before he stopped himself. He couldn't just grab the boy and seize his mouth with his. His hands hovered awkwardly – he still wanted to touch his teammate but he couldn't think how, their positions weren't right for a hug, and a pat on the back felt condescending. Beastboy's big green eyes turned onto him and Robin almost threw caution to the wind and kissed him anyway, just on the head or something, but he didn't. It wasn't right, not yet.

He had to reply somehow. He smiled. "I'm glad," he said, the truth being the best he could come up with just then. "That... really makes me happy." What else? "Do you want to-?"

He stopped himself. _Do you want to go out with me?_ He couldn't just ask him that. Could he?

"What?" Beastboy prompted, looking at him curiously.

"Er... Do you want to... ha-hang out with me?" Robin swallowed what felt like a whole potato. Beastboy looked a little confused. Obviously, they already hung out a lot, but that wasn't what Robin meant. "Like... at the zoo. But better. You decided where, but I mean... just the two of us."

Beastboy still looked like he didn't quite get it, but he agreed. "Sure," he said.

Robin swallowed again. "Okay. So you'll let me know?"

Beastboy nodded. "Yeah, I'll, er, try to find something."

Robin nodded too, suddenly feeling that he should go. His hands were sweating inside his gloves again. "Good, good." He stood up. "I'll, er, see you later."

"'Kay," Beastboy replied.

Robin hovered awkwardly by the door, looking back at his teammate. He clearly still didn't understand. If Robin was honest with himself, he didn't know exactly what he wanted either, but he knew that if he left Beastboy now, like this, then nothing would change. He also felt like if he didn't do something he would peel like a banana from frustration.

Barely making the decision, just moving, he crossed back to Beastboy and brought the teen's forehead to his lips for one brief, sweet second.

"Bye," he said abruptly after releasing him, hurrying out of the room without looking back.

**Author's Note:** Hoi, gois. Like the new chapter? I do. It's a long one too, compared to the others. And something finally, sorta happened! Frankly, I wasn't going to have that at the end, but even I would have been pissed if after all that kiss talk, Robin just left! Still, I'm saving the best for last so just hold on in there. Unfortunately, term starts again really soon, so I don't know if I'm going to be able to update again for a long time. I've tried to give you as much as I can these holidays, enough to go on anyway. The response has been really good, which makes me glad :) Sorry to blue-balls you like this though...


	8. The Carnival

Chapter 8

Robin gave it four days, before he just couldn't take it anymore.

He needed an answer; he needed to know if Beastboy was going to _give_ him an answer, and what that answer was going to be. The green teen was walking around as if Robin wasn't slowly torturing himself with this, and the Boy Wonder was starting to despair. So maybe he hadn't actually said the words, but he _had_ sort of asked Beastboy out, hadn't he? And his teammate had said he would think of something for them to do together, somewhere for them to go, hadn't he?

So what was the freaking hold up already?

At least Robin couldn't say that Beastboy was totally blind to his feelings. The little elf had been pretty awkward around him ever since he had given him that peck on the forehead, but then, that had been a sleepless night for both of them. Now Beastboy blushed and squeaked and stammered whenever Robin spoke to him, which kind of made the Titan leader want to stop doing it. He would watch as Beastboy giggled and chatted with the others, but as soon as Robin approached him, the boy froze up. Robin was starting to think maybe he had made a big mistake by doing what he did.

Which was why he needed an answer. He would back off if he needed to – he could get over this – but he needed to know for sure that Beastboy didn't feel anything for him, that he didn't share Robin's feelings of wanting to be... closer.

Robin was going over all of this in his head for the umpteenth time, sitting slouched in his armchair, watching as Beastboy and Starfire co-operated in the kitchen. They were making something that only the two of them would possibly eat, an unholy mixture of Beastboy's vegetarian collection and Starfire's alien repertoire. The boy was so excited and carefree as he judged Starfire's strange spotty gourd to be close enough to an eggplant to be allowed in their concoction, while Starfire effused over how much the green teen's Bean Surprise resembled a delicacy served on the moon of someplace.

Robin watched, his nerves tight like piano-wire with jealousy, one knee bouncing nervously and one finger scratching subconsciously at the armrest. It just wasn't fair. What had he done wrong? He hadn't done anything. He hadn't pushed the boy down or forced a kiss on him, _which he could have_, so why was he being ignored and everyone else favoured? Starfire didn't care about Beastboy the way Robin did. She didn't think he was almost impossibly cute, to the point that she couldn't take her eyes off him. Her heart didn't beat any faster and her skin didn't tingle because of the little elf. She hadn't gone to his room at night and sat on his bed and listened to him mumble shyly into his knees. She hadn't made him blush, or seen his face turned upwards for a kiss. She didn't have those moments, Robin did, so _why was Beastboy being so friendly?_

"Oh! We must include a Trifilian corbara!" Starfire cried, inspired. "I shall fetch it from my quarters!" She flew quickly from the room.

Robin leapt up, seizing the opportunity. He just couldn't take it anymore. If Beastboy wanted to reject him, he was going to have to say the words to Robin's face.

"Beastboy!" Robin said as he marched across the room. The green teen flinched and his pointy ears flattened protectively against his head. He didn't turn around, just kept stirring whatever was in that pot, though with noticeably less enthusiasm.

"Yeah?"

Not exactly the reaction Robin wanted, but not wholly unexpected at this point. He made a conscious effort to modify his voice, make it calmer and softer, more approachable. He came up behind his teammate and put his hand on the counter beside him, keeping his voice low as this was going to be a private conversation.

"Have you thought about what I said?" he murmured quietly, flinching at the authoritarian tone. He couldn't help it; he was a leader, it came out when he was nervous, but he knew that in this situation it wouldn't help him.

"A-About what?" Beastboy squeaked in reply, still staring determinedly into the pot.

"About where we might go?" The Boy Wonder dropped to a whisper. "Look, if you don't want to, just tell me, because this waiting is killing me. I won't be mad."

"Errr..."

Cyborg broke in. "The carnival is in town. We could all go," he said. His voice was flat and conversational, as if he was merely thinking out loud about a topic that accidentally matched that of Robin and Beastboy's discussion. Robin looked at him for any sign the oldest Titan knew what was going on between his teammates; but Cyborg kept his focus on his video game. Robin wasn't fooled though – he didn't believe in that much of a coincidence.

"Carnival?" asked Starfire, joining in as she returned with something in her arms that looked alive if not sentient. "What a wondrous idea! We are having much fun this summer! I like it!"

"Beastboy? Robin?" Cyborg asked, still not looking over his shoulder.

Robin was annoyed at having his moment hijacked and at being shanghaied into someone else's idea; the entire point after all was for Beastboy to pick the place to make up for the debacle at the zoo. But if that was where the green boy wanted to go, Robin would go too. "Beastboy?" he asked.

For the first time, Beastboy glanced at Robin's face, making eye-contact for the briefest of instants before shuffling away. "Er, yeah, the carnival. Good idea. Sounds nice. Starfire, why don't you take over here for a second, I have to, er, I have to... yeah." And with that he made a break for the doors and disappeared, leaving Robin feeling like he hadn't resolved a thing.

As he fled to his room, Beastboy was muttering to himself. "Stupid, stupid! Why can't I just act _normal_?"

He knew why, actually. It was because whenever the Titan leader got close to him, and his scent flavoured the air Beastboy was breathing, and he looked at him, and _talked_ to him... Beastboy just went all to pieces. He couldn't help but remember the fleeting press of the older boy's lips on his forehead, the gentle tug on the back of his neck as gloved fingers brought him closer, the tickle of his cape falling onto his thigh... Beastboy felt his face heat up just thinking about it. And how could he be expected to hold a conversation when he was thinking those things? He couldn't. Not when he was too fascinated by the movement of Robin's lips as he talked to pay attention to the actual words they were saying.

And when all this was in his head, the idea of going on a, a _date_ with Robin was just impossible! He couldn't do it! Unless getting drooled on was the Boy Wonder's idea of a good time, it would be a complete disaster! Beastboy wouldn't be able to talk or be even marginally charming in any kind of way; hell, it would be a miracle if he even managed to control his body, which seemed to have developed a mind of its own. Beastboy wouldn't put it past his hands to find their way onto the Titan leader somehow in a moment of distraction. It would be a complete and utter, _humiliating_ failure!

Beastboy reached his room and trudged inside as the door slid out of his way. He flopped onto his bed and reached for Mr Monkey, thoroughly depressed. Why did he have to be such a failure? _Other_ people managed dating alright. _Normal_ people pulled it off without becoming abnormally obsessed with every little thing about the other person, so why couldn't he?

The little elf buried his face in Mr Monkey's rather coarse belly and whined in sad frustration. And now they were going to the carnival. The same carnival they had gone to last year, the year when Robin and Starfire had gone off all alone on the Ferris wheel together. Blackfire and those alien drones had broken that little party up, but that wasn't the point. Beastboy wasn't a beautiful girl, he was a gangly, awkward, _green_, animal boy with pointy teeth and matching ears. The idea of him and Robin sharing a romantic Ferris wheel ride together was just... ridiculous. It was like a joke or something, and one Beastboy didn't find funny.

Beastboy whined again into his cuddly friend. This was going to be the last date Robin ever asked him on, he was sure. As soon as the Boy Wonder got to compare Beastboy with the hot alien he had spent last year's carnival with, he would be disgusted and wonder what he had ever seen in the youngest Titan. Then everything would go back to how it had been before. That was probably best for the team, even if it would hurt for a while.

oOo

The clanging sounds and flashing lights of the carnival assaulted them as the Titans entered its gates. Starfire flew gleefully ahead, doing little loops and twirls in the air. Cyborg was second, cracking his knuckles in anticipation of every test of strength he could find. Raven drifted after, predictably unimpressed by the whole thing. Finally, deliberately bringing up the rear, Robin and Beastboy walked awkwardly side by side.

Robin was glad of a new opportunity to try to understand what was going on with his teammate, but he had yet to say anything as he could tell something was bothering Beastboy. The green teen had grown more and more depressed since they had left the Tower, which was weird because Beastboy normally loved carnivals, or anything with loud noises, flashing lights, and games. The Boy Wonder could only assume Beastboy's depression was because the young Titan didn't want to be there with _him_, and that thought made Robin equally depressed.

Cyborg quickly found what he was looking for and disappeared, while Raven was hauled off to be Starfire's companion as the Tamaranian spotted a candyfloss stand. This left the boys alone.

Robin decided to speak before an awkward silence could set in, and he really didn't feel like torturing himself by pretending not to have noticed Beastboy's mood and forcing himself to act cheery.

"Beastboy, what's wrong? You normally like carnivals," Robin asked, a hint of begging in his voice.

The green teen looked up in alarm. "Oh, uh, yeah, I do. I love them," he replied hastily.

"You're not acting like it. You haven't said a word since we left the Tower," Robin argued.

"I'm not... feeling well," Beastboy lied.

Robin looked at him sceptically. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. "You look fine to me. What's really bothering you? Please just tell me." Beastboy looked like he was trying to think of another lie, so Robin sighed and pulled them into a secluded hollow between two stalls. "If... If it's what I said the other night, the way I acted, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just- Look, forget I did anything, okay? If you don't... feel that way... about me, then I understand. We'll just be friends."

Beastboy looked up in alarm. "Are you dumping me?" he blurted out. A shocked silence erupted between them for a heartbeat, before Beastboy realised what he'd said. Then the green teen's face, already a disco of funky colours as the bulbs around them flashed, darkened dramatically as he blushed like crazy. "I mean- I didn't mean- Oh man, I should just-"

The elf was about to bolt, so Robin quickly grabbed him and held him in place. "Beastboy..." He racked his brain for something to say, but not for the first time his teammate had rendered him speechless. "Why did you say that?"

"I - I dunno, I – Er..." Beastboy stammered and tried to pull away but Robin wouldn't let him go, not when he felt that he was finally close to getting his answer.

"Do you like me?" The Boy Wonder put his hand against his teammate's cheek and pulled his green gaze up to look through his mask, but Beastboy resisted. "Look, you might as well just tell me," Robin pressed. "I can take it, good or bad, but I need to know. I've been killing myself with this and I can't take it anymore. If you'd rather I just left you alone, tell me and I will. I won't hold it against you. But if you... _like_ me... the way I like you..." Robin trailed off, running out of words as stared down at Beastboy's sad green eyes. He couldn't think how or why everything he did seem to make the younger boy so depressed. Beastboy must really not like him, he thought to himself, and with all these confessions, Robin concluded he was just embarrassing himself as he chased his friend away.

Beastboy blinked, and pulled his face out of Robin's grasp, dropping his eyes again. His ears flopped sadly, twitching every now and then. Robin forced his hand back to his side, curling it into a fist to make sure it stayed there, and pressed his lips together to give his teammate a chance to speak.

"Why do you like me?" the green teen mumbled eventually, so quietly Robin almost didn't catch it over the jangling din of the surrounding games. "Why do you want to hang out with me? I mean, I'm not cool, I'm not... good-looking, or charming, or anything. I don't know how to... do... stuff... I only ever had one girlfriend and looked how that turned out! I'm a total failure, Robin, I'm nothing like you."

Robin's hands jumped to grab Beastboy's shoulders and maybe pull him into a hug, but he stopped them in mid-air. As much as he longed to comfort the boy and kiss him for however long it took until those ideas were gone and he believed what Robin was saying, he knew he shouldn't. He should give Beastboy space, listen to him, and engage with the emotions he was working through.

But he couldn't stop himself entirely. "Do you know how much I want to kiss you right now?" he said seriously. "I wouldn't call that a total failure." Beastboy looked up at him in surprise. Robin made a conscious effort to meet Beastboy's eyes so that what he said next wouldn't be doubted. "I like you because you're funny, and really sweet, and _very_ cute. You make me laugh, and want to make _you_ laugh. You make me think I'm going crazy, and do things I normally wouldn't do. Other than that," Robin shrugged. "I don't know, I just like you."

For a long time, Beastboy just stared at him, his expression unchanging. Robin started to wonder if he'd gone too far – what boy likes to be called cute, after all? - and his heart sped up and he began to sweat as a result. He really wished Beastboy would just say something.

Then, finally, relief. "You think I'm funny?" Beastboy squeaked hopefully.

The breath Robin had been holding blew out of him in a laugh. "When you're not trying to be," he qualified. "You still haven't given me your answer, though," he pressed. "About how you feel about me?"

Robin's expression was suddenly serious and, to be honest, a little needy. Beastboy swallowed and shuffled his feet a little bit. He was no good at this heavy stuff, he was much more comfortable just joking around. But Robin had been honest with him, a little scarily so in fact, so being honest in return was the least he could do to pay him back.

He cleared his throat, looking at his feet. "Actually, I'm, er... kind of... a little... obsessed," he managed to get out, glancing out from under his lashes at Robin who let a crooked grin split his expression in response.

"Well, it's a start," he teased. Smiling then for real, he reached for Beastboy's hand. "C'mon, let's go have some fun. Unless you'd rather stay here?"

Beastboy flushed dark green at the possibilities that flooded his imagination, and shook his head, allowing himself to be led out from between the stalls. He was unnaturally aware of the press of Robin's fingers against his own, even through two layers of gloves.

The rest of the evening, Beastboy wasn't quite able to relax completely, but he was able to function almost like normal. They each had several goes at their favourite games, winning some and losing others. When Beastboy had trouble with his aim, Robin stepped close behind him to give pointers, which did and didn't help, really. Then, when Robin's candyfloss blew into his hair, Beastboy laughed and bought him another one. They ran into the others several times, and it looked like everyone was having fun, but they didn't stay together - they were having too much fun just the two of them.

Beastboy wanted to go and see the show in the circus tent, but Robin held back. When he really couldn't convince the older boy, Beastboy looked at him and said, amazed, "Are you afraid of clowns?"

Robin looked awkward. "Er... Yeah, hate them. Can't stand 'em," he said, not totally convincingly. "You got me."

But Beastboy bought it. "Oh, come on, they're not so bad! I'll protect you," he said, indicating a flexed bicep.

Robin didn't laugh. "No, really, Beastboy, I can't."

Beastboy looked at his leader's face and saw that it was serious. He stopped trying to draw them towards the big tent. "Okay, no problem," he said, wondering at Robin's reaction. He moved to stand next to the older boy, the flow of their evening broken somewhat. To recover it, the Boy Wonder indicated in the opposite direction.

"How about a ride on the Ferris wheel?" he suggested with a smile he had to force a little to shake off his memories.

Beastboy gulped as he looked at the huge machine down the row of stalls, his earlier insecurities about it flooding back. But they were having a good time, and after everything that had been said in that dark little nook, how could he say no? Maybe it would be alright.

"Sure," he agreed, though he couldn't match his leader's enthusiasm.

The metal seat still carried a little warmth from the couple before, and its slippery surface made Beastboy feel a little unsafe as Robin fixed the safety bar in place over their laps. It made the green teen feel like he and Robin were sitting closer than they actually were. As they began to rotate backwards, Beastboy looked over the edge at everything growing smaller to distract himself. Robin was watching him when he sat back, unnerved by their increasing height.

"Alright?" the black-haired boy asked.

"Yeah, it's nice up here," Beastboy conceded. The lights of the carnival lay all around them, the music had quietened, and the night had managed to hold onto a little of the day's warmth to blow their way now. Despite the other riders that Beastboy knew must have been there, he felt like he and Robin were alone, or invisible.

"Yeah, I like it too," Robin agreed, his voice soft as he relaxed, looking out at the fairground.

As Beastboy looked at his leader, the breeze stirring the tips of his dark hair, he felt really good. Then he started to feel bad.

"Robin, what are we doing here?" he asked, concerned.

The Titan leader looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... What about the others? The team?... The press?"

Robin sighed. "I've been thinking about that. Haven't come up with anything yet. I don't think the others will care too much but..."

"If it goes bad, it'll go bad for everyone," Beastboy concluded, encouraged by the knowledge that Robin had been having the same worries.

"Yeah..." Robin agreed. He couldn't look at Beastboy as he asked his next question. "Would you rather... not? You know, just stay friends?"

"No," the youngest titan was able to reply quickly.

Robin smiled a true, honest smile and looked at his teammate. He lay his green-gloved hand over Beastboy's where it rested on the seat between them, and gave it a brief squeeze, conscious that other people would be able to see them if they looked. Their little private Ferris wheel ride was conspicuous enough without holding hands. That didn't stop his cheeks from warming though.

"We should still keep quiet though," Robin suggested. "At least for now, until we're... sure about this."

Beastboy nodded his agreement. He wanted to be careful too. He didn't know exactly what he wanted, nor did he know what his leader wanted. Nothing too serious had been said out loud yet, and they hadn't... _done_ anything, so... Beastboy didn't want to hurt the team, and he didn't want them to change the way they thought about him. He didn't know if he could have explained even if he wanted to.

Robin had squeezed his hand though, and he couldn't deny the warmth and shivers it had given him. What would happen now? Would they make a couple? Would they kiss? He blushed hard and stared at his feet as he waited for it to pass, hoping it wasn't too visible in the dark, or could be blamed on the cold somehow.

As they came to the end of the ride, Beastboy was kind of glad to see the ground again, but he couldn't help but wonder if he should have done something more. The Ferris wheel ride had been more than a little romantic, and he suspected he should have taken more advantage of it. But what could he have done when the whole fairground could have seen them?

As he and Robin removed themselves from the crowd surrounding the big wheel, Starfire flew up to them. Beastboy jumped, wondering if she had seen them on the ride together. She glanced between them, but she didn't seem to notice anything.

"It may be time to return home, friends," she said. "Raven is complaining of the headache, and Cyborg has no more strength challenges left," she explained, and Beastboy noted her lips were stained by what must have been a crazy amount of candyfloss.

"Alright, Star. You ready to go, Beastboy?" Robin acceded.

"Yeah, guess so," the youngest Titan said, unable to think of anything else he wanted to do.

It was late when they got back to the Tower – everyone just wanted to go to bed. As if by some instinct, however, the two boys let everyone get out of sight before progressing to Beastboy's room, and the green teen said nothing when Robin stayed with him instead of turning off to his own room.

The door slid open when Beastboy reached it, but he didn't go right in. Instead, he turned to Robin.

"I had fun tonight," he said awkwardly.

"Me too. I'm glad we got to... talk," Robin replied.

"Yeah, about that..." Beastboy was nervous, terrified actually, but today was supposed to change something, wasn't it? He never would have dared this before, but he felt like he was taking less of a chance now than he would have been a week ago, or even that morning. He took a quick step closer, reached up for an instant, and pecked Robin on the cheek. "G'night," he managed, then spun and vanished into his room without looking back.

Suddenly alone in the hall, and a little stunned, looking at a black door where his green teammate had previously stood, Robin slowly allowed himself a smile, and since no one was around, he touched the spot where Beastboy's lips had grazed him.

**Author's Note:** Hi, sorry for the wait, as usual, and thank you all for your continued support. I hope this chapter meets your expectations. It actually underwent a bit of a rewrite from I had originally, as I messed up Robin's characterisation as it has been in this story. I made him too forceful, a bit too passionate. There wasn't any of the bumbling awkward cuteness. To be honest, it's kind of a shame I had to take it out. Guess even I'm being teased by how slow the boys are moving. Robin's quite a little Lothario in my head, lol. Maybe one day, eh, folks?

Anyway, I've actually deviated from my plan here, I couldn't see a way around it, but now I have a bit of a problem. It seems like the boys have an established relationship here, but that doesn't chime with any of the other chapters I had planned. I suppose I could make it work somehow, but does anyone have any more ideas for activities for them? Anything to do with villains, injuries, or fights is too complicated, and I feel this story has a light-hearted tone without action. It's meant to be about games and sweetness.

But yeah, I'll try to update soon, maybe in a week? Let me know what you thought of it all.


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